If Only
by TheGoldenQuillEnquirer
Summary: Harry enters sixth year still dealing with the death of Sirius, being the mediator between his two closest friends as they edge closer into romance, and barely has time to decipher his new strange dreams as a new mysterious girl enters Hogwarts 6th year.
1. Little White Lies

"If only... If only I could..."  
  
Finding silence at this time in the day was quite easy in the Gryffindor Common Room, but lately it was just as easily being broken by a 16 year old boy with scruffy black hair, circular glasses, and stunning green eyes. He had awoken to a sudden start, reached for his forehead, and was now pacing across the room as if something had been occupying his mind for the longest time.... even in his sleep, or so the look upon his face gave away.  
  
"Harry! Harry!" A girl with wavy brown hair and chocolate colored eyes called out to him.  
  
"Hmm, what?" Harry replied, caught off-guard; being broken out of his train of thought. "Oh, it's just you Hermione, what are you doing up so early?" He asked, pushing back a yawn.  
  
"Well, I was going to go down to visit Hagrid, and well... "she paused, "I wanted to know if you wanted to come... since you are awake and all," she finished off awkwardly.  
  
"Yeah sure," he said groggily, "let me go get Ron..."  
  
"No!" Hermione quickly replied, "I mean, no. Well, what I mean is... I don't think we should wake Ron up if he's sleeping."  
  
Harry internally questioned why she was so fidgety and on edge, which resulted in a bemused glance aimed at Hermione.  
  
She uncomfortably shifted in her spot and quickly attempted to explain her behavior, "Well, it's just that..." she paused, fumbling for the correct wording, "I kind of, well, wanted to bring you alone, okay? Anything against going somewhere and only talking with one friend for once?" She ended defensively.  
  
Harry looked at her suspiciously, but got up and joined her regardless. He figured in order to get to the bottom of what she was hiding, going with her would be the best means of finding out. When about to exit the Common Room he had remembered that he other things to be focusing on right now, and dealing with whatever Hermione was hiding was only helping him procrastinate.  
  
"All right, Hermione, what are you hiding?" He asked suddenly, watching her respond with look that indicated she was caught off-guard.  
  
"W-what ever makes you say that?" she said, her voice wavering as she spoke. "I'm not, I'm not holding back anything..."  
  
"Spit it out Hermione!" he said, now gritting his teeth. He had other things he had to think about and do, he did not want to deal with this right now.  
  
"Oh well, all right," Hermione said, defeated. "It's just that I've been doing a little research, you know, in my spare time, about spells and their effects - you know..." she paused hesitantly, "like.... scars and-"  
  
"Hermione! I thought I told you to let it go! Listen, I've been fine, all right, no feelings from Voldemort, no weird dreams or anything, just get off my back about the whole scar thing already!" He yelled at her, angry at her interference in his personal matters. He didn't want the whole world making a fuss over his stupid scar, and so, in this situation, he didn't feel the need to tell Hermione the truth, that in fact, he had been having weird dreams and been receiving Voldemort's feelings daily.  
  
"Well, uh..." She trailed off uncertainly.  
  
"Promise me you will!"  
  
"Uh...."  
  
"PROMISE ME!" He bellowed, loud enough that he was sure he had just woken up half of the Gryffindors that weren't already awake.  
  
"Oh, alrigh- No!" She said stubbornly.  
  
"What?" Harry's face appeared as if it had just been impaled by a brick.  
  
"I said no!" Hermione declared defiantly. "Harry there is something very off about the whole thing, I mean, I just can't understand, I just don't understand..." she trailed off, yet again searching for the right words.  
  
"WHAT? What? What is it? Is it that you just don't understand how I survived Voldemort's first blow at my life after he murdered my parents, or is it that you don't understand how to leave me alone?"  
  
"HARRY," she said aghast, "I-ITS NOT LIKE THAT!" she continued defensively. "J-just listen, it's just that I've been thinking - well - if V-Voldemort can tap into your mind because of your scar... wouldn't you think you could do the same thing back towards him?"  
  
As much as Harry didn't like either of his friends interfering in those particular areas of his life, (seeing as the things he had experienced in his lifetime weren't things you'd necessarily like to repeat to your friends,) what Hermione had said intrigued him. Ironically, as soon as they could've gotten into an in-depth conversation about this, they were interrupted by Harry's other best friend, a boy with red hair and freckles who went by the name of Ronald Weasley.  
  
"Hey Harry, Hermione, what's up - I heard you from inside the boys' dormitories..." Ron said, as he scanned their facial expressions. "Did I miss something?"  
  
"No," Harry replied quickly in an attempt to hide the content of their conversation, "Hermione was just yelling at for putting off my homework as usual."  
  
"Yes," Hermione joined in, following Harry's lead, "You guys ought to stop putting off your homework for that stupid wizard sport!"  
  
The color in Ron's face changed to match the color of his hair... only after almost draining it completely of its healthy color. "WHAT DO YOU MEAN SOME STUPID WIZARD SPORT?" he screamed. "QUIDDITCH IS THE BEST RUDDY THING AT THIS SCHOOL! YOU CAN'T JUST GO AND INSULT QUIDDITCH LIKE THAT!"  
  
"Hmph!" Hermione mumbled indignantly as she walked away.  
  
"Honestly Harry, that girl is out of her bloody mind. Quidditch - a stupid wizard sport? Who does she thinks she is? She may be smart, but when it comes to determining what's enjoyable or not - she's got the brains of Percy..." He said, shaking his head, and pausing to see if Harry was paying attention. "Harry, you there mate?"  
  
"Oh yeah, just thinking..." Harry replied distantly.  
  
"'Bout what?"  
  
"...How I'm dreading to go to double Potions with Snape today," he said hesitantly, hoping that Ron would buy it.  
  
"Yeah me too," Ron agreed. "I mean we all want to be stuck down there twice as long in a foul smelling prison with Mr. Sunshine..." he continued sarcastically.  
  
That putting an end to their short-lived conversation, they both quickly traveled down to the Potions classroom - both still angry with Hermione - both for different reasons. But, Harry couldn't help thinking... what if Hermione was right? 


	2. Missing Keys

"If only... If only I could..."   
  
Without realizing it, Harry had fallen asleep during Professor Snape's class while listening to his droning on and on about how this potion would be unacceptable if you had just - missed - one - step. Right as he had started to truly delve into his daydreaming, the infamous tightwad had just rudely awakened him.   
  
"What in Merlin's name are you muttering about, Potter?" sneered Snape irritably. "If you could only, what? Were you saying if only you could... get an A in this class? Is that what you were saying? Because that could clearly never happen with your abysmal potion making skills," said Professor Snape smoothly, whilst Malfoy and his gang had snickered in response in the background. "I don't know how you got into my class in the first place, Potter and Weasley," he paused, looking at both of them with disgust, "but I can assure you that you won't last very much longer, especially when daydreaming." He proclaimed as he turned his back to observe the rest of the class.   
  
"I assure you that you won't last very much longer," Ron mocked, making hand motions and screwing up his face, "What a git!"   
  
"Yeah, well just think of it this way - there's only a year left with him after this..." Harry said with a pause, "Anyway, have you seen Hermione lately?"   
  
"No," replied Ron frowning, "I was about to ask you the same thing... I wonder where she could be..."   
  
Ron, just as Harry had, now noticed that Hermione had not showed up for Potions today, which was very uncharacteristic of her.   
  
"Yeah, I wonder..."  
  
Thinking back to Hermione had once again caused him to think about what she said before. Of course he could do it, he knew he could.... or at least he was pretty sure he could do it - there were multiple times he had for instance. 'I mean, there was the time when Wormtail had rejoined Voldemort, when Mr. Weasley had been attacked and almost died, and even when he had conversed with Rookwood.' In fact, he even felt what Voldemort felt whenever the scar on his forehead had tingled - which it often did ever since his return last year. Yet, just as Harry was assuring himself, a thought of horror had struck him - Voldemort now knew that Harry had seen what he could see and feel what he could feel at anytime and he could use that to his advantage. He had almost forgotten that. He didn't even want to think about the idea of tapping into Voldemort's mind now, there were too many dangers - like being mislead again into false pretenses... like he had done with Sirius. There were so many other times Voldemort had taken over his body as well, like the time when Voldemort had tried to get Dumbledore to kill him out of pity, the time when he had wanted to bite Dumbledore.. or rather, when Voldemort willed his,(Harry's,) body to do so regardless of Harry's conscious, and even in the dream that supposedly helped Mr. Weasley - while he felt himself being the attacker. Wasn't he the one to blame in this all anyway? Wasn't he the bridge between good and evil? Why did all these burdens have to fall on his shoulders? He couldn't help but feel a pang of jealousy, soon replaced by guilt, of Neville. As much as Harry wanted to believe that nobody his age had suffered as much as he had, he had to admit that people like Neville came exceedingly close.   
  
He just couldn't do what Hermione was asking of him, or rather, suggesting he do. He had already screwed up things enough by falling for another one of Voldemort's traps, that lead to the eventual death of his godfather, as well as one of his few ties left to his father. The loss was irreplaceable and devastating, and although Harry would not admit it, he still wasn't able to cope with Sirius' death. He couldn't risk losing anyone close to him again, to him it seemed as if he was slowly killing off everyone he cared for, and it was slowly eating away at him everyday.   
  
Disgusted with ever bringing the topic up within himself - he almost had banished it from his mind before a lone thought had slowly become prominent within his mind. Why did Voldemort so often attempt to attack Dumbledore through him? He knew that obviously Harry was closer with Dumbledore, and visiting him more frequently, but weren't there other ways to reach him? Harry felt like he was stuck within a battle that truly wasn't his own, even though it was. Dumbledore is and has always been the good wizard, saving innocents, the hero who finds ways to protect you merely with his presence. At so many times, Harry didn't even need Dumbledore presence to help him, just a belonging of his or even a memory of his. Then, there was Voldemort, the evil wizard set out to kill more than half of the wizarding race just for 'pureblood.' He didn't get why it was his duty to battle with Voldemort to the death, when there were just as many capable adults, if not better in magic than him, that could do the same.   
  
'But, it's your prophecy,' Harry's mind whispered to him. He sighed aloud in response. He was honestly getting sick of all this responsibility, and hoped that perhaps, if he pinched himself hard enough, he'd find that this was all a dream, or rather, a nightmare.   
  
"If only, If only I could..." Harry muttered in his sleep for the second night in a row.   
  
That next morning Harry awoke to the same problem he had yesterday, no matter how much he had hoped it was a dream. He thought about it a lot and didn't even realize that Hermione was still not to be seen at the moment. And although he wished that everything happening to him at the moment was a dream, his dreams weren't much better, or rather, the one dream he had been dreaming wasn't much better.  
  
He couldn't help feeling a pang of guilt knowing that he had been having those same dreams he had been having all year, and as Hermione reminded him, (although she had no idea of his dreams,) he should be practicing to keep these dreams away. A year ago, he wouldn't have been bothered by this, but since then, things happened... Sirius died, and Hermione was now missing... neither helped his guilty conscious as he continued to experience these dreams and disregard his Occlumency training from Snape.   
  
He'd known he was muttering in his sleep again because Ron had told him and had started to get worried - which was the exact reason Harry had begun to sleep in the Common Room and lie to his friends saying how he would lose track of time down there and didn't want to wake anyone up, or how he accidentally feel asleep while doing homework.   
  
Harry thought that if Ron knew what he was dreaming about, he'd be even more worried. Harry also knew that if Ron would be troubled, he'd tell Hermione, and if Hermione got troubled, she'd suggest to him to go to Dumbledore, and the last thing Harry wanted to do now was talk to Dumbledore. As much as Harry admired Professor Dumbledore, he also felt exceedingly guilty for the situation that had happened last year due to his lack of practicing Occlumency, and if he had told Dumbledore now about his recent dreams... Well, Harry didn't imagine Dumbledore would be too pleased.   
  
His dreams were just like last year's: always trying to reach out to something - except this time it didn't involve opening doors to reach a final destination unbeknownst to him. It didn't involve searching for something which he knew was important at the time even though he didn't know what it was, for this time he knew what it was. It was a key, they only thing he didn't understand about this dream was about why he needed the key - why he wanted it so badly, why he couldn't reach it - why he always just fell short before he woke up. But, like in his other dreams from last year, he knew it most likely had an important reason involving Voldemort. Every other time he woke up from a dream with his scar prickling - he was, after all, destined with danger with the infamous You-Know-Who. 'So at least,' he thought, 'I know where my dreams are heading.' And something like this is exactly what would worry Ron, and probably even Dumbledore. From this he found that there was only one definite fact in all of this thinking that he knew to be true, he needed that key.   
  
At this point in time, he was so wrapped up in what was the future of his life was going to be, hopefully not what Professor (if that's what you could call her) Trelawney had predicted every year, that he had barely noticed that Hermione's disappearance. Ron however, was very concerned at this point as he so obviously displayed since her disappearance.   
  
"Hermione never misses a lesson," Ron said truthfully, "not one, unless it's something important... what is going on?" he asked fearfully.   
  
Although it had only been a day, Ron had already talked so much of Hermione's absence that, although he himself was concerned, he got sick of hearing about it and decided to finally do something about it.  
  
Harry and Ron had gone around asking people of her whereabouts, but no one knew anything - it was almost as if she had disappeared off the face of the Earth. The only thing that struck them stranger was the fact that people didn't voice much concern about Hermione's disappearance when asked, in fact, they didn't even sound interested - surely, this would've caused a topic to gossip upon.   
  
So after a whole day of inquisition, Harry's level of worry rose to that of Ron's before they had started asking people of Hermione's whereabouts, and Ron's level or worry went through the roof. Harry managed to hear Ron mumbling to himself at random times whilst they were going down the hallways back to the corridors, and as usual, if anything could make the situation worse, it was a chat with Malfoy.   
  
"Still looking for your little mudblood?" Malfoy howled, his two friends who resembled smaller version of trolls echoed his laughter as he continued with what he had to say. "I doubt you'll ever find her, in fact.. I think for once she's done something for her own good and left."   
  
As Malfoy started to leave, seeming satisfied, Ron carried a look containing a mix of bewilderment and anger. Ron had slowly raised his hand from his side, curled it into a fist, and lifted it in preparation to punch Malfoy, but after a moment of thought, he just as slowly put it back at his side, and turned to talk to Harry.   
  
"Harry!" he exclaimed, "I think he knows something... I mean, this may sound odd, but he sounded so sure that she would never come back, as if he knew where she was. Plus, we all know that Hermione would never leave this school. For Merlin's sake, it is Hermione we are talking about!"   
  
"I know," said Harry, actually starting to believe one of Ron's wild accusations - mainly because Malfoy's dad was a Death Eater, (although in Azkaban prison.) "I know," he whispered, now wondering but hoping it didn't, have something to do with the key.  
  
After this long exhausting day, which had only left Harry feeling as if he had gained nothing, he figured that after all of this, the only one who would be able to help him would be Dumbledore, as much as he didn't want to talk to him. Then, after assuring himself once more that visiting Dumbledore was the best possible way to find things out and end this search, Harry walked with Ron back to the Common Room, and then left him there saying he had to go to the Library and quickly pick something up, so Ron would not ask to tag along. As much as Ron would like to know where Hermione was - probably more than Harry - Harry also knew that Ron would not be able to handle whatever Dumbledore would tell them. 


	3. Lost and Found

A/N: I'm glad some people have actually begun to read this, and so.. I dedicate this chapter to my readers here, because I truly appreciate your presence! Other than that, I do apologize for it taking so long for my chapters to be posted here, but I am working hard at it... Oh yes, one last thing.. does anyone know how to use italics and whatnot on this site? I tried, but they don't seem to be showing, sigh. Although I'm an old member, I just started using this site recently, and thus, don't know how to work many things on it. Help would be appreciated! =0)  
  
So, Harry worked his way through the crowds of students and through the corridors to Dumbledore's office in a great effort to find out where Hermione had been the last few days. Just when he got up to the statues that guarded Dumbledore's Office, he realized he didn't have the password, and figuring that Dumbledore would continue his typical pattern of using candy names for passwords, Harry began to yell out candy names at the stone gargoyles.  
  
"Chocolate Frog! Fizzing Whisbees! Ice Mice! Sugar Quill!"   
  
Finally, at Harry's last command, the stone gargoyles moved aside, giving him just enough room to enter.   
  
"Hmm... Sugar Quill, that was it?" said Harry, perplexed, "Really? You would think a Professor wouldn't make a password out of something students use to..." he trailed off, remembering what he was supposed to be talking with Dumbledore instead of mumbling to himself.   
  
Harry walked up the stairs leading to Dumbledore's Office, and upon entry, he had stumbled across a Dumbledore who was pacing the room, and being watched by the numerous portraits lining his wall.  
  
"Professor Dumbledore," Harry said, trying to get his attention, "I wanted to talk to you about something."   
  
"Yes, I know," Dumbledore said with a small smile, "I've been waiting for you to approach me," he paused, "and to reprimand me for making the same mistake I've made in the past that seems to only repeat with age..."  
  
"Mistake? What are you talking about?" Obviously, they were on two completely different trains of thought, and as much as Harry was concerned about Hermione right now, he was just as interested in what Dumbledore was talking about.   
  
"Oh Harry, I fear there is something else you don't know about the future that lies ahead of you," said Dumbledore whilst sitting down behind his desk, "that I have held back from you, like I have other things - for reasons that seemed to make sense at the time, but their validity honestly seems to fade with age, and so I think now is the time to finally tell you."   
  
"Tell me what exactly?" Harry asked, genuinely intrigued.  
  
Dumbledore got up and started pacing his office again, clearly burdened heavily with the information he was about to release. He sighed, and when coming into eye contact with Harry again, Harry noticed that his eyes had lost their typical sparkle and that his smile had faded away; Dumbledore's age was beginning to become more clear to Harry now.   
  
"To tell you that in your 5th year, I had only told one of the prophecies that told of your life in part, in worry that telling you the whole thing would be too much of a burden, too much knowledge for you to carry all at one time - so I gave you the one, the one that was mainly concerned with your life, in hopes that would satisfy your lack of knowledge as well as my need to bring you into the reality you were burdened with to face."   
  
"I have another prophecy?" asked Harry, quite flustered, "Well what is it...? I want to know then." He said, his confusion from his recent life experiences now all mounding on him.   
  
"It is not your prophecy in whole in actuality - that is the reason in part why I held it back from you. I had decided you had already shouldered so many burdens, that I did not be the one to place another upon your shoulders - especially when it is only of half your concern," he paused, looking to see if Harry was still interested.  
  
Only when he noticed the great interest in Harry's eyes did he continue: "Well, it is a long story to tell, but if you are so obliged to hear it, then you shall hear it, and if I remember correctly.. it happened something like this:  
  
I had finally decided to take a short break from Hogwarts, leaving the very capable Professor McGonagall in charge of running things at my beloved school, as I headed off into Hogsmeade on that upsettingly gloomy day, and joined the students there in one of our trips. I had Apparated to The Three Broomsticks once I had gone through the gate that leads to Hogsmeade in order to avoid the sea of Hogwarts students. I had gone there merely in hopes of a drink that might tickle my fancy, much to the surprise of my students and staff. When I had arrived there I met one of my Professors, Sybil Trelawney, occupying a table by herself and sipping a frothy butterbeer. I joined her company, and engrossed myself in a conversation with her.   
  
Then, her voice became wavering and raspy, and the prophecy began...  
  
'There will be another who will hold the fate of the world in their hands unknowingly, and they will be tempted to fight for both sides of the argument that has started since the birth of magic, eventually betraying one for the other. This person will require a sacrifice unwillingly taken in order for a decision to be made, one awaited upon by those dead, yet still lingering on in spirit. Once the time has elapsed for a side to be chosen, it will prevail only after losing many of its number, but the assistance of the one in question will help them become everlasting, and their rule shall be the guide for centuries. Their true immense power will only be released at the downfall of another great wizard though... and the boy-who-lived will be the only one to affect the decision of this person of power to come... He will be the only one...'   
  
She faded out as the prophecy ended, and once she was done revealing the prophecy within the walls of the noisy Three Broomsticks, she had acted as if she had revealed nothing; she remembered not a word that had just come out of her mouth. She had no idea that what she had just said was so crucial to the survival of our world, or that she had just summarized the fate of our very lives..."  
  
After revealing another one of the prophecies Dumbledore had accumulated - out of pure coincidence, in his lifetime, he paused shortly to show that his story involving the extent of the prophecy and the history behind it had finished, and then continued on.   
  
"This was after your birth mind you, so I knew of whom she was speaking. I have to admit though, I was quite skeptical - considering this was also not long after your life had become a legend... but I had to believe what she said was completely valid because her face at the time - it was unmistakable of a trance."   
  
Once Dumbledore had completed his story, there was a uncomfortable silence between the two that ensued briefly, soon to be breached by Harry.  
  
"But sir, I thought you said she had only made two correct prophecies," said Harry, who was attempting to subdue his confusion in an attempt to comprehend what was being told to him this night.   
  
"Yes, and I did not lie - she had only made two correct prophecies at the time, this prophecy I had just told you at that time was nothing more than words, there was no truth to it - for it hadn't yet come to pass."   
  
This had created another brief pause, and left Harry quite speechless, mainly due to the fact that now he carried even more confusion than what he had even entered that office with. To say the least, Harry was not expecting to be told anything of this sort anytime soon.  
  
"But, I am afraid to say that soon this prophecy will come to pass us, very soon..." Dumbledore said, interrupting Harry's thoughts.  
  
Harry left Dumbledore's office in a staggering motion, for he was thinking hard - about everything, about nothing. He was so focused on what Dumbledore had just said, yet he had no clue on what he just said, he had no idea where to start thinking about the whole idea, it was all so confusing for him. He knew that if Hermione had been around she would've suggested some book in the library involving notable witches and wizards, but he knew it wouldn't be in any book like that - it was a gut feeling that was telling him all of this. It was also this same gut feeling that was telling him that this had to do with the key, it had to do with Hermione, and he needed to figure out this puzzle ASAP - or else... Well, he didn't know what would happen, but everything felt like it was riding on his shoulders and depending upon one another to be solved. If only he knew what this all meant.   
  
Within the next few days, Harry and Ron had discussed the prophecy thoroughly, hoping to find something in those words that were soon to play out in some part of his future that might give him a clue. Every spare moment of their time was serious thinking (which would have even Hermione a run for her money), planning, and working, just working for something they didn't know yet - but would soon find out. Although Harry and Ron had been working day in and day out on the prophecy, Harry knew they wouldn't get anywhere - but he hoped somehow by miracle they would. So, he continued on with Ron studying everything about the new prophecy - the words, the phrasing, etc. It all got so exhausting checking out these books they had hoped would help - but what they really needed, was Hermione. In fact, one could even say, Hermione was the key. 


	4. Rebuilding Problems

With that last thought in his mind, Harry had abruptly stood up with a dawning expression on his face. He then grabbed Ron's shoulders and started shaking him saying, "Ron, Ron, I know it, I get it now, I get it!" He was so happy now that he understood what it all meant that; his emotions were at a high. Ron, meanwhile, thought Harry was going insane.

"Er- Harry, what the bloody hell are you talking about?" asked a very confused Ron.

"Hermione - the key - it all makes sense now!" said a still quite exhilarated and satisfied Harry.

"You're not going all Professor Trelawney on me now, are you?" Ron asked uncertainly, "This makes no sense mate, what is 'the key,' what does it have to do with Hermione and -"

Harry had now cut off Ron out of frustration that Ron didn't make the connection, without realizing the he had never explained his dreams to Ron.

"The key, my dreams... remember? You have to," Harry said with a look of confusion that matched Ron's, yet contained a different reason for its purpose, "I have them every night."

"Erm, no Harry, I don't - I have no idea what you are talking about..." 

"Oh, Oh yeah - I never told you about my dreams did I - w-well I'll tell you now then, I guess."

Harry then explained his dreams to Ron, in hopes that then Ron would make the connection. Yet, although Harry could see the connection, apparently Ron still couldn't.

"And what the bloody hell does that have to do with Hermione?" a very impatient and confused Ron cried.

Harry sighed out of exasperation; he figured that Ron should have made the connection by now. Honestly, why couldn't Ron see what he was seeing?

"Okay," said Harry talking slowly, as if he thought that would help Ron understand the concept better, "Remember how in my dreams I had always been reaching out to the key?"

"Yes," Ron snapped back, irritated.

"And how I could never quite get it..."

"Okay..." Ron said clearly getting more aggravated by the moment, but trying to keep his cool.

"And do you notice how we now suddenly very much so need Hermione..."

"Get on it with it, mate!" Ron screamed out of frustration, now standing as well to face Harry.

"For heaven's sake, Ron, Hermione is the key!" said Harry with a face of anticipation, now hoping that Ron would finally get it.

Right after Harry had finished off his sentence, wheels had finally and visibly started to churn in Ron's head, showing that he had finally made the connection and then confirmed it.

"Oh..." said a slightly embarrassed, but now understanding Ron.

"Finally!" Harry said amusedly, whilst rolling his eyes jokingly.

Harry had now plopped back down onto one of the very comfortable chairs in the Gryffindor Common Room right before Ron had done the same thing. Both of them had pondered this thought for awhile now in silence before saying anything, one of them was clearly satisfied with himself and the other one seemed oddly focused on the table right in front of them right before one of them had broken the silence.

"I get what you are saying Harry, but what does this have to do with that prophesy?"

A brief silence had followed this question, which was then followed by Harry's disheartened expression: one minute he thought that he had solved all of his problems - the next, he was stuck in a rut again. The smile slowly slipped right off of his face.

"I wish I knew..." he whispered so softly that Ron could barely even hear him.

"It's all right mate; at least we have half the problem solved, right?"

"Yea..." Harry responded while wearing one of the glummest expressions Ron had ever seen him wear.

"Well, I'm going to bed for the night - I'm a bit sleepy right now..."

"Alright, I think I'll stay here for a little bit longer, see you tomorrow..."

"Uhhh... right," said an equally disheartened Ron, "see you tomorrow."

While Ron had wandered off to the bedroom and gone to sleep, Harry remained awake - thinking, for hours. Harry was convinced this all had something to do with the prophecy and _knew_ that it had to, but in the way it would connect with the prophecy - he didn't know.

"But how," he muttered aloud, "but how?" were the last words Harry had spoken for the night before unintentionally drifting off to sleep.

There he was again, in the same dream, the dream that started it all. He was reaching, stretching, aching to be able to have that key, he needed it so badly now - more so then ever.

'_It was like a snitch almost_,' Harry thought within his dreams. '_That's it, just pretend it's a Quidditch game, you are after the snitch - and you need it to win the game, you just have to beat your enemy to it,'_ he said to himself again. He had always reached short of the key, but this night he was determined to break that record and finally grab hold of it. Next thing he knew, Ron was shaking him awake and looking at him with a very concerned expression.

"What did you do that for?" Harry asked angrily.

Ron was speechless momentarily at Harry's anger, and gave Harry a look that told him he was either scaring Ron or off his rocker.

"Mate, you don't even know what you were doing in your sleep, do you?"

"I know perfectly well what I was doing," Harry replied, still very angry and irritated.

Ron ignored his comment and continued, "You were thrashing violently in your sheets, and you were muttering to yourself about something or other - and you had just started to shout aloud before I woke you up..." Ron continued on in a whisper. "I-it wasn't about you, you-know-who, Lord V-Voldemort," Ron said pausing shortly to shudder before continuing on, "was it?"

"Maybe..." Harry replied, now wearing a defiant face. Ron just shook his head, seemingly flustered, returned to his bed and pulled the sheets over his body and lay there extremely frightened, staring at his bed frame. Harry could tell from this that Ron was deeply shaken about all of this: Harry's daily dreams, Hermione missing for what seemed like forever, Lord Voldemort on the loose, and now it was finally all mounding up on him with extreme stress. Ron just couldn't handle all this fear anymore - he remained in his bed, shaken.


	5. Relentless Confusion

The next couple of days passed by rather quickly, considering Ron had not appeared at all to any of his classes - Harry already knew why, and honestly didn't put much worry into it; he was too focused on other things. So while Ron was ignoring everyone, Harry was focusing more and more of his free time on working out the meaning of his last prophecy told to him by Dumbledore. He could now understand why Ron was so frightened; he was also frightened for the same reason, yet also very different. He was scared because of his lack of knowledge on this subject, because no matter what he did - he always ended up where he started. He, like Ron, was scared about the fact that their friend, Hermione, might have something to do with this. Most of all, Harry was worried that he hadn't made the connection between these subjects - usually, by now, he would have. Then again, usually, he also would've had the help of Hermione.

There wasn't much to do without Ron Harry had to admit, so the days had passed by rather dully. The nights were just as bad - if not worse. His nights went by dreamless, so he could not and had not made any progress on understanding his dreams. Lately, Harry's life had been so frustrating that he was even slipping by in his studies, and he knew that if he wanted to be an Auror, that he would have to sharpen up, no matter what life was like now. He wished he could have some advice right now, but no one would understand him, _no one_.

Just as he was contemplating all of this, Harry thought of the most seemingly brilliant plan. He then ran up the stairs to the boys' dormitories and into his room. Frantically and desperately, he ran to the right side of his bed where most of his special possessions lay. Then, rummaging through his trunk - he came across it, the two-way mirror.

"James Potter!" he immediately shouted at the mirror, loud and hopeful. Disappointed, he then threw the mirror across the room and fell down on his knees, shaking and crying silently, furiously. Out of his desperation, he had forgotten that his father couldn't have possibly been carrying the two-way mirror when he was murdered. How could he have so easily made this same mistake twice? In fact, in that moment of desperation, he had completely forgotten that he was most likely holding the mirror that had belonged to his father. The words, _'You are more like you're father than you know,'_ now ringing in his head.

"How could I be so foolish," he thought aloud. Harry sat there, staring at the floor - wallowing in his sorrow - hoping that some sane idea would come to him during all of this. "If only..." he muttered weakly.

Only after hours of silent remorse, only after hours of ignoring Dean and Seamus' comments, and only after hours of shutting himself off from the outside world did he realize something he had been absentmindedly ignoring this whole time.

"Dumbledore..." he said aloud, gaining hope, "Dumbledore can help me!"

Happily, Harry ran down the hallways to visit Dumbledore's office for the second time this year. Adrenaline was now running madly through his veins, and Harry was determined to talk to Dumbledore.

"Sugar Quill!" he excitedly said when reaching the gargoyles. Steadily, the gargoyles had moved aside at his command, giving him enough space to enter the Headmaster's office.

"Dumbledore!" he said breathlessly, but still beaming.

"Hello, Harry!" Dumbledore replied, "What can I do for you today?" he said with his blue eyes sparkling.

Too overwhelmed by his own joy, what Harry had meant to say had only come out in bits. "Prophecy - Hermione - dreams - key..."

"Excuse me?" Dumbledore politely replied.

Still inhaling and exhaling deeply, Harry had said "Can you please explain that Prophesy to me a little bit further?" Harry paused briefly, but quickly continued, "I have a feeling that it has something to do with Hermione, a-and my dreams with the key."

Dumbledore responded with his eyes, which although were normally full of cheer and amusement, now contained a dull, dismal pigment of blue. "I'm very sorry, Harry, but I'm afraid you will have to figure that out on your own -" he paused, "It is your destiny, not mine."

Within a few moments, Harry's smile had disappeared from his face and in return, been replaced with an unsatisfactory smile. "Great!" he muttered, "Just great!"

Realizing this sudden silence that fell upon them, Harry had said his goodbyes and had started to leave Dumbledore's office. Two disappointments in one day, he didn't know how much more he could take.

Yet, right as Harry had started down the corridor, Dumbledore stopped him and merely said, "Remember Harry, it is ourselves that define the future, and you will only solve life's problems by looking deeply into yourself..."

Harry just quickly glanced at him and replied a quiet, "Yeah," before heading back to the Gryffindor Common Room, up to the boy's dormitories, and then finally, to fall asleep.

....

It was now a crisp, fresh Saturday morning, and Harry had just woken up. He noticed that the others around him had begun to stir in their beds, (whose hangings most forgot to shut,) also. Yawning and stretching, Harry got up and changed into a set of Muggle clothes. He then began to walk into the Gryffindor Common Room before remembering the stack of homework he had awaiting him. Groaning, Harry picked up the homework planner that Hermione had given him last year (he had forgotten to throw it out), flipped through the pages, and practically collapsed while looking at the amount of homework he had left for himself to do. Harry grabbed about 6 feet of parchment, or so it looked, two quills, and two inkpots, and proceeded to walk into the Common Room. He walked up to a nearby table and a comfy chair that seemed unoccupied, and plopped him and his things down. Gazing at the homework planner, Harry had begun to read off the assignments he had to do out loud.

"Charms: practice the Protean charm as we learned in class." He wished he had Hermione here to help him with that. "Transfiguration: None," which was then scratched out and then read, "Practice transfiguring your basket into a Bowtruckle." Harry laughed out loud, remembering that he was only one of a few students who still couldn't do this. "Defense Against the Dark Arts: Write 2 feet of parchment about spells to mislead your enemy in any way (ex. Actual confusion, appearance, etc.,) and their effects." Harry thought that would be simple enough with some research. Only because he had at least completed his other three subjects' homework, (Care of Magical Creatures, Astronomy, and Herbology,) he was at last up to the Potions assignment.

Potions read, "Write 4 feet of parchment about the ingredients and instructions required in making an Animagus potion and its effects." Harry hated Snape for assigning this homework, which only gave Snape more glee as he informed the class of the homework.

Now having gone through all of his homework assignments, Harry decided to work on the charms first and then work on the essays later. Harry had started with the Transfiguration homework first (he knew that he would be able to get that spell worked out the fastest of the two), and after 10 tries he had successfully done the charm. He then moved onto the rest of his homework, completing it the best he could. After all of this, it was 6 o'clock (about time for dinner), and Ron had still not shown up, so Harry had walked down to the Great Hall by himself, had dinner, and returned to the Common Room yet again by himself. In his solitude, Harry had once again found himself reencountering his daily life.

Hermione was still gone, Ron was ignoring him - and the rest of the world, he had just finished off his stack of homework, and he couldn't think of anything else to do. Harry had decided that since there was honestly nothing much to do, he might as well go to sleep. So, Harry climbed up the stairs to the boy's dormitories and into his bed. Wearily, Harry took in a last glance at his surroundings, thought one last thought, and absorbed this all into his mind, and fell back asleep.

Darkness was now filling his eyes; he was asleep. Shortly afterward, Harry began to drift into 'that dream' again. There he was, standing, staring at the key that had haunted him.

"Well this is new and different," he said in his dream, so obviously irritated and bored, "whatever shall I do?" he added rhetorically. He laughed at his own comment, mainly because he was so sick of being stuck in this dream, only to wake up empty-handed. He then continued to take a few paces towards the key, fully aware that there was now nothing stopping him. "Curious," he muttered slowly, although he had quickly fastened his pace, knowing that he would not have much longer before waking up - that is, with his recent luck. He was now not far from the key, in fact he getting much closer to it, dangerously close.

Not far away from the key, he paused, suddenly being very skeptical about it all. '_What if this is another one of Voldemort's traps?_' he thought, frowning.

He looked at the key with a newly formed caution, but then attempted to squash his fears by saying, "No harm could come to me in a dream though, right?"

Hesitantly, Harry had continued on, still somewhat fearful. Still trying to avoid his own self-conscience, and his fear, he had thought of Hermione, his friend who had been missing unbeknownst to many at Hogwarts. Using his thoughts as a newfound source of power, he had gained the courage he normally had that was ebbing away from him in these dreams, and was determined to grasp the key - no matter what.

He had finally reached it now, and he knew that it was too late to turn back. He put his shaking arm out slowly as if the key was going to come up and attack him, and grasped the key slowly, placing each finger upon it one-by-one so that now all of the fingers on his right hand were holding the key. He had moved it from the spot, which it was originally glowing and rotating, and he pocketed it. Next thing he knew, the ground was shaking violently, and there was nothing he could do. He might die, he thought. He reached out and grabbed a loose brick in the wall - hoping it might save his life, and then....   
  
BOOM.


	6. Retrieving a Member

A/N: This is a bit of a long chapter, I hope you don't mind... but I figured it better to include all of this information in one chapter inside of dividing it into two or more...

Harry had just fallen out of his bed, his scar now possessing a burning sensation.

Now kneeling on the ground, Harry rubbed his head, and started to climb back into his bed and shake it off when...

"Ow!" a familiar voice sounded in the distance. Harry's face had now twisted up in confusion. '_No_,' he thought, '_couldn't be, I'm hallucinating..._'

A question that was meant to be said aloud popped into his head, yet he found he was too afraid to actually ask it. After a moment's consideration, he decided that he should ask it after all, no matter how foolish it seemed...

"Hermione?" he asked quietly, barely louder then a whisper.

"Harry! Oh, I'm so glad to see you... where are you? More importantly, where are _we_?" Hermione replied excitedly.

Harry was astonished that after all this time, Hermione was not to be found, and now, she was popping up in the boy's dormitories of Gryffindor.

Suddenly, Ron's head had just popped out of his bed hangings and he too felt the need to be sure that Hermione was in the room with them. "Hermione?" he asked in a tone of bewilderment.

"Oh, Ron! You're here too... that must mean I'm in the boy's dormitories again," she replied, whilst straightening herself up after an apparent fall.

Even though Ron had no idea where she was, he had started to grope around in the darkness of night for her hand, or even her hair, something that would show her physical presence.

"Where were you?" both boys asked at the same time, Ron continuing to search around for her.

"Oh, this is ridiculous!" she exclaimed, before murmuring a spell to light up the tip of her wand. And As soon as the meager amount of light poured into the room, Ron had instantly run up to her, beaming for the first time Harry had seen for a while.

He then hugged her, and whispered, "Hermione, I have missed you so much," and closed his eyes to savor the moment of her return.

She responded awkwardly, uncomfortable with the situation. "Oh - erm, Ron, yes, I missed you too... now if you don't mind, could you let go of me? You are squishing me..." Harry laughed at the scene between his two best friends.

Ron quickly let go of her, remembering how awkward the scene must've looked, and stepped backwards bashfully.

Now looking slightly embarrassed, Ron seemed to stumble across any words that he had wished to say, "Oh - erm, yes, uh, so erm, where uh were you Hermione?"

"Oh, you both make it sound like I have been gone so long - have I really?" she paused quickly, looking at their faces. "Drat! I must've missed so much, I really wish I had..." she started muttering, obviously upset.

"That's okay, Hermione," Ron responded beaming, "you can make it all up with me-"

"What does that mean?" Hermione asked suspiciously, with an underlying serious tone.

"Well, uh-"

Harry cut Ron off, his temperament getting the best of him, "Hermione, who cares? I mean, where _have _you been all this time anyway?"

"I want to know about -" Hermione began just as impatiently before getting cut off.

Harry rolled his eyes and replied: "How about this... Ron will tell you about his little story, AFTER you tell us yours!"

"Alright, well I suppose..."

"Good, it's settled then... Now tell us your story..."

"Alright, well, it's a very odd story, actually," she continued on, "it all happened on that day I had the fight with you, Harry."

"The last day we saw you...." Harry said in a whispered voice.

"Correct," Hermione replied quickly.

"_That was the day you were badmouthing Quidditch_," Ron replied slowly, "you were WAY out of line, Hermione, I mean..."

"Er - actually," Hermione said, interrupting him, "we'll talk about what actually happened later..."

"What do you mean, what _actually_ happened?" Ron asked, throwing a confused look at both Harry and Hermione.

"ANYWAY," Hermione said loudly, shifting uncomfortably.

"NO, I want to know what that was -" Ron exclaimed furiously, to only be cut off again.

"As I was saying," Hermione hissed while staring at a now grumpy Ron, who began to shoot evil looks at his other two friends. "I had just stormed off, out of the Common Room, raging mad - because of Harry's irresponsibility-"

"I was not being irresponsible!" Harry interrupted, shooting Hermione a glare similar to Ron's.

Hermione roller her eyes, and huffed impatiently. "Can I continue?" she cried, exasperated.

"Yes," both boys chorused almost inaudibly.

"So I had just gotten out of the Common Room, and had started to walk down the corridor when it happened..." Hermione stopped, checking if they were still paying attention, and continued on. "A man wearing a black cloak had attacked me, his face was masked of course, and so I couldn't really see who it was..."

Harry and Ron looked at each other nervously. It had sounded like she had an encounter with a Death Eater. Although this was most likely what had happened, Hermione had shown no signs of fear, only of frustration and confusion.

She muttered on, "I had my suspects of course, but..." she trailed off, focusing on the ground while her thoughts drifted back to the past, and while Harry's and Ron's impatience and anticipation remained growing.

"AND THEN?" Harry yelled, getting clearly annoyed at how long it was taking to get this story out of Hermione.

"Oh yes," replied Hermione, now coming out of her daze. "Er - um, yes, where was I? Oh that's right... ok, yes, so the man had come out of nowhere and attacked me: he put his hand over my mouth, and dragged me into the wall... or so it seemed, and then there was no way I could escape," she paused, "I just didn't respond fast enough, I was caught off guard, I froze, I didn't know what to do..." she trailed off, starting to cry. She seemed very ashamed of the fact that she let this happen to herself. Harry became concerned as he watched her breakdown before them, and he started to calm her down so she could continue - he needed to know what had happened.

"Hermione, it's okay," he said calmly, "anyone would have been caught off guard..."

"Yes, but,"

"Hermione," he said strongly, with a firm voice.

"Okay," she said, weeping off the last of her sentence. Then, taking in a big breath, she continued, and seemingly shook off her momentary problem. "It was weird, the wall must've been a portkey or something..._Oh I don't know!_" Hermione huffed, flustered.

"Wow!" said Ron, "I never though I'd hear Hermione say that..."

Harry laughed, hearing Hermione huff repetitively in the background.

"Gee thanks Ron, next time you want to be kidnapped for about a month, tell me and I'll arrange it!" she said, both irritated and threateningly.

At Hermione's last comment, Ron had gained the appearance of someone who just got slapped in the face, and from then on remained both shocked and silent.

Hermione grumbled, but eventually from the persuasion of Harry had continued on. "Alright, Harry, I suppose you do deserve to hear the rest..." she paused and then sighed, as if this was some heavy burden. "So once he had taken me behind the wall, or wherever the portkey led to, I had remembered entering this very dark room. As soon as I had entered there... I immediately felt trapped."

Harry continued to listen more intently as she proceeded to tell her story; he didn't understand how she got back here in the first place, why she mysteriously popped up after he had collected the key in his dream, and thus, more importantly, if it had anything to do with the new prophesy.

"I couldn't see anything - where I was, but I had the strangest feeling – as if I was glued to the ground, almost stony even." Harry was about to ask her a question, but she already knew what it was by looking at his expression, and answered it.

"No, Harry, no spell - just, well, more of a gut feeling you could call it. I felt compelled to stay there, you know. I felt sort of dazed, lost, just kind of out there..." Hermione said, still quite perplexed at her previous situation. "Anyway, once that man had dropped me off there, he just simply disappeared. He didn't Apparate though - or at least I didn't hear it, as I said... this was all very strange. The rest of it is really simple actually, considering I didn't do much - or couldn't do much rather, being stuck in that horrible room forever!" she trailed off angrily; frustrated at the helplessness she had to endure. Yet, she brought herself quickly back to normal tones in an attempt to shake off what she obviously could not change any more. "That is, until Harry saved me..." she said now bright and cheery.

"I ... what? How?" Harry asked, now extremely confused.

Ron looked at them both, and then turned on Harry, as if he were to blame. "You mean..." he paused, the color in his face rising, "you have known where Hermione was all this time? You were HIDING her from me? Mate, I had homework that needed to be done!"

"I swear - I..." Harry started, extremely flustered with the whole situation.

"I'm glad that all I am is a homework checker to you!" Hermione snapped back, displaying a face that showed a disappointed fury.

"Oh, heh, err no, not at all..." Ron blushed a deep red, and then quickly sat down, burying himself into the chair. "Heh, um, continue on..." he trailed off, sliding further down the chair.

Hermione continued to glare at Ron and mumbled something under her breath that sounded oddly like, "Well, I'm glad I have your permission... git!"

"Would you stop it you two?" Harry cried, exasperated, "We're NEVER going to find out the rest of the bloody story IF YOU TWO DON'T STOP ARGUING!"

"I suppose you are right," Hermione said, slightly reproachful but reasoning the situation. "Yes, well," Hermione said, starting up her story again, "I was sitting there in the dark for what seemed like forever – time stretched on and on, and I could do absolutely nothing," the frustration prominent in her voice yet again, "when I heard a voice in the distance, a female voice..." she trailed off, her voice lightening considerably.

"I thought you said I saved you?" Harry asked, intrigued by the strange situation Hermione was put through.

"Oh, you did, there's no doubt in my mind that you did," she paused for self-reflection, "she was just there... like her only purpose was to comfort me, to soothe my nerves and frustration – she was very kind to me..."

"Well, what did she say...?" Harry asked.

"She said..." Hermione began, almost breathless, winded and tired from the experience she had just endured, yet trying to muster her strength. "Don't lose faith so fast, your courage mustn't linger my new friend, help remains on its way", she plowed on, "Follow your heart, it will always lead you in the direction," she paused. "You don't mind if I just show the whole thing to you, you know... like on a movie on a screen... it would be _much_ easier."

"That'd be even better!" exclaimed Harry.

Within the next moment, Hermione whispered a spell underneath her breath and flicked her wand in a grandiose motion. Ron and Harry then watched as a giant movie screen appeared in front of them, obviously intending to display the situation Hermione was attempting to speak of.

Harry and Ron then watched as the screen fuzzed and flickered – eventually displaying a completely black screen, which finally afterwards, molded into a color picture.

_"W-Who are you?" a confused Hermione asked blindly into the darkness. _

_"I am a mere citizen of the magical world, concerned of your health, and concerned about saving lives from Voldemort – which, by the way, I'm sad to announce you fall under that last category." _

_"I- yes, I thought so... but why can't I see you?" Hermione asked the darkness again, searching around for a person she couldn't see._

_A caring smile was apparent in the speaker's tone of voice. "I fear you can't see me yet, my voice is simply transmitted here from a secluded area." _

_"Oh, so have you come to save me?" Hermione's voice perked up._

_"No, I'm afraid I cannot go to such measures, it is not my choice for your rescue, it is but another's." Alongside the obvious loss of joy from Hermione, again, one could tell the speaker's facial expressions - a frown. "Do not be disheartened my friend, the Order has faith in your rescuer, they believe that this person will be prompt." _

_"Who is this person?" she paused abruptly, "You're in the Order?" _

_"Ah yes," replied the speaker, "I have pledged my allegiance to Dumbledore long ago... and I'm afraid I cannot reveal the identity of your rescuer - strictly confidential, especially if you aren't of legal wizarding age." Hermione groaned, as the speaker just laughed in return. "Yes I feel that way about that law also, but a promise to Dumbledore is a promise..." _

_"Well, I don't remember you from the Order - or recognize your voice at least..." Hermione sounded slightly annoyed. _

_"Well, you wouldn't have, you've never met me before..." _

_"Oh, that might explain it, but when will I know when this person is to come and save me..." _

_"I will send you a short glimpse of their face when the time arrives..." Hermione smiled, possibly at the thought that someone was to save her soon. "Well, now that I've explained the basics to you - I'm afraid I must leave," the speaker replied much to Hermione's dismay._

_"Oh, please don't go! I need someone to talk to, it's so lonely here..." _

_"I'm sorry," the speaker replied, "just remember... don't lose faith!" she said while fading out. _

The last thing the screen displayed before fading out and disappearing into thin air, was Hermione kneeling on the ground, crying silently to herself in the darkness.

A soft "Oh," escaped Ron as he looked at Hermione with eyes full of sorrow. Hermione, in return, smiled warmly at his sympathy and for a brief moment, locked eyes with him.

"So - erm, who do you think it could be?" Harry asked randomly, wishing this didn't have to be the strange, awkward situation it was.

"I don't know, but that voice sounded of one of a young woman – not really an adult, more of a teenager even..."

"But I don't think they'd let teenagers in the Order, would they? I mean they were so strict of making sure we weren't involved..." Harry trailed off uncertainly.

"Yes, I suppose, that doesn't make sense does it...?"

"So... How'd I 'save' you?" Harry inquired; still confused on the role he played in all of this.

This question was the last straw for Hermione, who was truly tired of all this explaining and questioning after being stranded in a dark deserted location for who knows how long. Still, Hermione decided that it would be best that they all know of this mysterious encounter, and to be quite honest, talking about this girl had kept her energized – mainly because there was so much mystery behind her identity that it kept Hermione pondering.

Harry had noticed that Hermione was thinking hard about something - mainly because he had already called her name about three times, and saw not one stir of recognition in her eyes as she seemingly looked straight through him.

"Hermione!" He called out for what would be the fourth and final time.

"What - oh, what? I'm sorry Harry, I was just thinking..." Hermione said, dismissing her previous behavior away with the wave of her hand.

"When don't you think?" Ron retorted underneath his breath.

'Well,' Harry thought to himself, 'there goes the idea of a peaceful conversation.'

"You know, I could've left you both in the dark about this..." said Hermione threateningly.

Ron sat tiredly in his chair, mocking her as would a five year old: moving his lips and contorting his face into funny positions to indicate that whatever Hermione had just said was not worth listening to.

"I think we all need some sleep after this ordeal," Harry said, creating a reasonable excuse to avoid hearing any more of the fight that ensued, "especially at..." he paused to look at the clock, "5 A.M. IN THE MORNING?"

"Wow! I guess we have been talking for awhile, haven't we?" said Hermione.

"Could you please just tell me one thing Hermione.... how did I save you?" Harry asked pleadingly.

Normally, Hermione would've shrugged it off and asked him if she could tell him tomorrow, but by the look on his face, she just couldn't do that this day, for she knew that she too would've been curious.

"Well, you were asleep, right? I think somehow, you released me from your sleep," she paused, trying to make sense of it all, "and I know it was you, because I saw your face flicker in front of me before I landed here - well what happened in your dream?" Hermione asked, still trying to make sense of everything, and form connections between the two seemingly unrelated subjects.

Harry briefly explained what had happened during his dreams, at which Hermione seemed to have reached a conclusion from.

"Hmm... When you thought of me and grabbed the key, that's how I must have been released, I think it must have been a spell or something binding me to that place - because I obviously couldn't leave - and when you did what you did in your dream, it broke the spell - like a fairy tale isn't it?"

"Yeah," Harry replied slowly, "Well, um, thanks Hermione, I'll see you tomorrow," he finished off his sentence, still quite perplexed.

Harry and Ron then led Hermione out the entrance door to the boy's dormitories, and Harry couldn't help but think that the rest of the boys in his dorm must've been some heavy sleepers had they slept through all of that.

Hermione left their room and found herself at the girl's dormitories alarmingly fast - especially for someone who was so tired... maybe it was the excitement of the night that got her up here so fast.

"Maybe I should start all the homework and class-work I missed..." she paused, "ooh," she said while putting on a face that looked like she had just sucked on a lemon, "that won't do, I don't even know where to begin," she groaned. Without Ron or Harry to tell her what to make up, it'd be pointless.

She paused to think, 'Ron never did tell me why he never did any of his homeworks anyway.' She thought in deep concentration, 'well I suppose I shall ask him tomorrow then.' She yawned and then plopped down onto her bed, which although had a very discreet sound, managed to wake up one of her roommates regardless.

"W-who's there?" Lavender asked suspiciously.

Hermione got up and smiled, "Sorry to disturb you, Lavender."

"Hermione?" Lavender exclaimed, afterwards magicking a light at the tip of her wand and starting towards Hermione. "Oh, where were you?"

Lavender seemed like she hadn't gotten sleep in awhile, but still acted bright and cheery, "Tell me all about what happened!" she grinned excitedly.

"Oh, Lavender," she really didn't want to disappoint Lavender, "I really need some sleep, if you don't mind, I mean - I just got back from, erm, that place where I was..."

"Oh," Lavender replied, slightly disappointed, "alright then, tomorrow?" she asked hopefully.

"Alright," agreed Hermione, smiling wearily, nodding her head slightly.

"'Night."

"'Night," said Hermione, who blacked out as soon as she hit the covers of her bed.

....

Harry climbed slowly back into his bed, groggy but still awake and curious. He couldn't help but feel like Hermione left something out, that there was just something missing - maybe it wasn't that Hermione left something out, but it was him that was missing something or even... someone. Harry sighed aloud, if only he could figure his life out. He was only 16, yet he had lived through so much - he could barely handle it all. Why'd his life always have to be so dramatic, why'd everything always have to happen to him? Sometimes he wished that, as cruel as it sounded, that someone else had his life to put up with. If only he had someone to relate to nowadays, Ron was his friend - but he would never understand. Sirius was as close as he got to someone who understood him, but then, well, frankly, Harry didn't like to remember what had happened to Sirius. Well, he just wished he had someone to relate to - anyway.

"Mate? You still up?" Ron inquired.

"Yeah, erm sorry mate, was I disturbing you?" Harry asked, feigning concern, "because I'm going to sleep now anyway..."

"Alright, just be quiet about it..." Ron's voice replied back tiredly, as both boys within minutes of speaking to each other, fell asleep.


	7. Catching Up

The next day was uneventful, but necessary - homework needed to be done, sadly - according to Ron. They had all about woken up at about the same time, (1 in the afternoon,) and met down in the Common Room. Hermione was eager to catch up on her class-work and homework, while Ron on the other hand... was not thrilled to be catching up nor explain to Hermione the story of why he had been mysteriously absent for so long.

"What...?" Hermione asked hesitantly and apparently shocked that he had cared so much; that her disappearance affected him so much, "you did that... because of me?"

"Er- uh..." Ron blushed deeply.

The moment was tense between the two - even Harry could sense the awkwardness between them now. Hermione bit her lip and looked meekly at Ron, showing a different type of fear Harry had never seen her contain. Ron, like Hermione, became reproachful and _conveniently_ seemed to have engrossed himself into a book that _just happened to be_ covering his face at the moment.

He then quickly blurted out something that sounded like a combination of multiple words: "Let'sjustdoourhomework, okay?"

Hermione blushed in turn, and Harry could tell she was trying to suppress the rouge that was creeping up her face as she turned to talk to him. "Uh - ok, yes, erm - Harry."

Harry could tell that Ron and Hermione were determinedly not only looking at each other, but also greatly avoiding now talking to each other.

"Oh... uh... which notes do you want first?" Harry's lips stumbled upon the words, as he tried to break the awkward moment.

"Potions," Hermione replied.

Ron groaned and mumbled something along the lines of "Stupid git!"

Hermione and Harry exchanged bemused looks, and then in unison, stared at Ron to see if he would react any further as they exchanged class-work and homework assignments.

"How about Charms then, Harry?" Hermione asked, still looking questioningly at Ron.

"Easy for you to say!" Ron mumbled back, his face still hidden behind the book.

Harry and Hermione glanced at each other once more, and with great effort, attempted to suppress the laughter that was begging to come out. So naturally, Harry couldn't help but give it one more shot.

"History of Magic?"

Like before, Ron had something to say. "That guy is so boring that a drone of bees would be more interesting than him."

Giving way to temptation, they all burst out into laughter. Once the laughter had fully escaped Harry's mood, he gathered the notes and homework assignments Hermione had missed together and handed them to her, with Ron looking along beside her so that both could attempt to make up their work at the same time. Yet, since Ron was missing a shorter period of time, he needn't make up as much as Hermione, and so, just took the smaller amount of notes and homework assignments he needed until Hermione had caught up with him – which both of them had a feeling wouldn't be awhile; they had such a long haul of work to catch up on that they were lucky it was the weekend – as Ron gloomily deduced.

"Thank God it's the weekend," he proclaimed, "or else I might've gone insane with all of this work," he said, looking at the stack of parchment beside him.

Throughout the course of the day, Harry continued to stay with them... for he too had homework to do – not as much as they did, of course, but enough.

Hours later, Harry then broke the silence, "Ron?" he asked.

"What?" Ron said, looking up from his work.

"Since when do wizards believe in God?" Harry chuckled.

Ron laughed in return, "Bloody hell! Did I say that? Guess I've been hanging around my father too much."

They all laughed. "Well, it's about time for dinner guys, let's say we take a break and go down there," Harry said, more cheerful now that he had completed his homework, and that at least Hermione had returned, so Ron would be back to normal.

Hermione and Ron both nodded in agreement- they desperately needed a break that even Hermione admitted to. The pair then packed up their work and brought it up to their dormitories and joined up with Harry to go to the Great Hall.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione then left the Common Room in much relief and started walking down the hallways to the Great Hall. On they way there, they passed a group of chatty girls, and another, and another - Ron was the only one who saw a pattern here.

"What the bloody hell is going on?!"

"What do you mean, Ron?" Hermione asked.

"Well that's got to be the ... oh, fudge I lost count... Well anyway, the main point is, that there are a lot of chatty girls today."

Hermione looked at him like he was insane, "And that would be different from every other day... how?"

"I don't know Hermione, it just seems weird today."

"Yeah," Harry agreed.

"Really?" Hermione asked, pausing to think about what they had said. "Well, they are extra chatty today..." her words evaporating into the air, "I wonder what they are talking about..."

At this point, they had been right at the entrance of the Great Hall, which within a moment they had gone through to view a spectacle that only furthered their questions.

"What _is_ going on?" Hermione asked with a voice of glazed curiosity.


	8. The Belated Gryffindor

They trio absorbed the scenery of the Great Hall in awe. It was decked out with amazing decorations, quite similar to how it would appear on their first day of school when the first years would be sorted. Their tables were set up with their respectful house banners hanging gallantly above, the ceiling lit with the night sky – stars twinkling down upon the students, and there also stood the sorting hat on the stool. Harry was shocked and confused; this was a little bit late for a sorting ceremony to be held.

"So this was what everyone was whispering about," said Ron. It was, in fact, clear that this indeed was what everyone was talking about. Around them, everyone seemed curious and just and confused as them, whispering to their neighbors. Even the teachers, who were normally cool and collected in situations the students knew nothing of, seemed confused. As Harry continued to skim the teacher's table up at the head of the Great Hall, he noticed that Professor Snape and Professor McGonagall seemed very anxious and kept throwing looks at the smiling Dumbledore. No one could have expected what was about to happen.

Ron, Hermione, and Harry walked to their table hesitantly, and sat down as curious as ever.

"What do you think it could be?" Ron asked.

"Important enough to do this..." Harry responded slowly. Both Ron and Harry then waited for Hermione to come in saying something witty, but she never got the chance to. Dumbledore tapped on his goblet with his wand, miraculously creating a sound that was louder than it should've been, (most likely amplified,) and echoed throughout the chatty dining hall.

"Good evening, students!" Dumbledore exclaimed, his face bearing a cheerful look.

The chatter was now starting to dim down; waiting for Dumbledore to announce what was going on, people hushed up their conversations so they would not have to strain to hear the occasion for these sudden elaborate decorations.

"Tonight is a special night in the history of Hogwarts," he paused, "involving a very special person who I expect you all to treat very kindly."

That settled it. Although they didn't think it was possible, a new student was coming to Hogwarts. All three of them sat there stupefied, since when had it been allowed for a student to enter later than the normal time anyway?

Dumbledore continued on with a gleam in his eye and a smirk upon his face.

"Yes, we will be receiving a new student tonight."

With those words, he had confirmed their suspicions, as well as encourage the students in the Great Hall to gossip with nearby neighbors at the oddity of this situation.

"SILENCE!" Dumbledore boomed over the loud chattering of his students.

The students then, yet again, quickly ended their conversations, although they looked as though it was the most painful thing as they restrained themselves from conversing any more.

"Now," Dumbledore continued, "I do believe that we have a sorting ceremony to begin, am I correct Minerva?" He smiled and then turned toward Professor McGonagall, who was utterly flabbergasted with this situation.

"Uh - uh, yes, Professor Dumbledore," she nervously glanced at Snape, "certainly."

Snape sat there as stony faced as ever, but had an even paler tint to his skin tonight than Harry thought possible.

"Then let us begin!" Dumbledore exclaimed mischievously. "Mandana, please enter!"

At Dumbledore's wave of his hand, the doors immediately opened and in walked the new student - the new _girl_. She walked down the hall with confidence, wearing a warm smile that said she didn't care or apparently notice that the whole school was watching her every move. She was Caucasian, had hazel colored eyes, and wavy brown hair whose tips went just over her shoulders by an inch. Harry was watching her carefully, alongside of the rest of the school, but with more interest than just curiosity. He watched how her hair moved while she was walking, the length of her steps, the way she smiled and how her face followed through with that smile, and for the moment he lived for every breath that escaped her powder pink lips. He thought she was beautiful.

As she continued to walk down the hall, her black cloak swishing with her steps, she was being watched intently as Harry by only one other person. It was obvious to both of them that she wasn't in her first year; in fact... she looked 16 like them.

Harry thought that was strange, very strange... a 16 year old arriving here, missing the first couple of years at Hogwarts, and then coming in late in the school year?

Apparently he was not the only one to think so; the whole hall was now full of curiosity.

Mandana had now stopped right in front of the stool with the hat and smiled broadly, "Pleasure to see you again, Dumbledore." She acted as if she was an old friend with him.

"Why thank you Mandana, but the pleasure is all mine, and please call me Professor Dumbledore."

"Yes, I had forgotten," she replied politely, bowing slightly in apology.

"You do remember the procedure we do here that I told you about?"

"Perfectly well..."

"Good then... Minerva, could you please lead us into the sorting ceremony?"

"Uh- why - uh - yes, sure." Professor McGonagall said, still flustered with the incoming of this new student. Then, quickly grabbing a piece of paper from Professor Dumbledore's hand, she walked over to the side of Mandana and announced, "Mandana Lexiconn, please step up to the stool and put the sorting hat on to be sorted."

The next minute was the most intense moment throughout the hall, especially for the two people who had been watching her so closely, for she was joining their year.

She smiled and then walked at a normal pace up to the stool, (not showing any signs of nervousness), and put the hat on. Harry immediately thought back to when he was first being sorted, which caused him to wonder now why this girl was not nervous at all; she must've cared about what house she was going to be sorted into... she must've. She had now put the hat on, and clearly gave it something to think about - very intensely as well.

Harry was wondering what was taking so long; what was wrong with her. He wanted her to be in Gryffindor so badly, so that they'd have classes together at least...

The hat remained in silence, mystifying the whole hall full of students. Oh, how he hoped she'd be put into Gryffindor, in fact he was pleading with the hat in his mind to have her put into Gryffindor.

Now, after much waiting, the hat seemed to finally be done thinking and loudly announced its verdict to the whole hall: "GRYFFINDOR!"

The Gryffindor table burst into cheers, knowing that if this girl was coming in this late she had to be good, right? Harry was just confused by this. Although he wanted her to be sorted into his house really badly, he still seemed thrown off that she did make it in. He guessed he didn't expect it to happen - it just seemed too good to be true to him. While the table around him was cheering, Ron and Hermione seemed just as befuddled as Harry.

"I just don't get this situation at all," Hermione trailed off, "what makes her so special?"

"What are they all clapping about; it is just a girl after all." Ron said, shrugging.

Apparently none of them realized that the answer to all of their questions was approaching them.

"Hi, my name is Mandy... do you mind if I sit next to you, um...." she said looking at Hermione.

"Hermione, it's Hermione," she responded.

"Well then Hermione, do you mind if I sit next to you? You look like you know everything about Hogwarts... and I obviously need to learn!" Mandana said smiling genially.

Harry thought it was good of her to flatter Hermione like that – about her intelligence, it would surely win her over in the end.

"Why.... uh, er, uh..." Hermione was flustered, caught off guard from this compliment, "sure, of course!" she grinned broadly, and made room for Mandy to sit down.

Ron was tempted to roll his eyes, but resisted the urge figuring she was new and that he should at least give her a chance, for he was quite sure that she just wanted to sit with them because of who Harry was. Harry on the other hand, couldn't believe his luck, and was extremely curious about her – and blurted out the question that had been floating around in his mind.

"So - what brings you here, Mandana?" Harry asked.

"Please, call me Mandy, Mandana is such a horrible name..." she said, crinkling up her nose, "and it's a rather long story why I came here, erm, uh, what's your name?"

Ron almost fell out of his seat.


	9. Searching for Answers

A/N: Welcome all new readers! I'm glad you've come to read my ff, and I really hope you stick around! Right now, I'm actually quite busy, and don't have the time to write individual replies, but next time around... I shall! Enjoy!

Mandy, Harry, Hermione, and yes, even Ron, had a pleasant dinner with each other. They managed to skim across all the important topics, (or at least all the ones they considered important.) Harry had questioned her about Quidditch and managed to find out that she was a seeker and was just as thrilled as he and Ron were about the game as well. Hermione held her head up high, as if she was too dignified to be involved in such a conversation, and continued to eat her dinner quietly, having no input about Quidditch. The rest of the group ignored her and her unsaid remarks easily though, (it is easy to ignore a person who remains silent after all.)

Although, when they finally reached the topic of schoolwork, Hermione considerably lightened up. Hermione and Mandy managed to agree that anything under an O on a work assignment was simply under par and despicable. _That_ was the time when the boys merely ate their food silently, having no comment or care on schoolwork.

Overall, from what they could tell - she was a good rounded out person... But the one thing they found odd about her, although she was charming, was that whenever they brought up the topic of how she got here and why she came here - she would simply change the topic.

Although they all did like her, they felt like she was being quite mysterious from the person it appeared she usually was. They all couldn't help wondering about what had happened to make her this way. They all couldn't help but wonder what the truth was behind it all, but the problem remained that they needed to get Mandy distracted in order to talk privately about it.

"Mandana, Mandana!" Colin Creevey called. Mandy quickly whispered back to the trio in hopes to find out who was calling her.

"Um... guys... who is that?"

"Colin Creevey," Harry replied.

"He probably wants to take a picture of you," replied Hermione quickly, "you being the first student that was ever accepted late in Hogwarts' history."

"Oh," replied Mandy, with a hint of curiosity and question in her voice. Mandy wasn't quite sure if she was telling the truth, she always had a good sense of other's emotions...

Hermione noticed that Mandy paused to stare at her; it felt like she was scanning Hermione for lies. She became as tense as ever, hoping her true emotions didn't shine through. Luckily though, Colin called after her again.

"Mandana! Mandana!"

"I'll be right back guys," Mandy responded slowly, still staring at Hermione, "you know - just to see what he wants."

The trio watched her walk away and just as soon, they engrossed in a quick conversation.

"Well, that was a lucky coincidence," said Hermione.

"Yeah," Ron replied.

"What are you guys talking about?" Harry asked.

"Come on... you can't tell me that you aren't just as curious as we are to find out about why and how Mandy got here," Hermione said with a nonchalant tone.

"Well... yes, I suppose," he replied.

"Now... how are we going to find out?" Hermione inquired to Ron and Harry.

"W-What do you mean?" Harry asked, thrown off, his thoughts still focused upon Mandy who had just walked away, "Shouldn't we respect her privacy a bit?"

"Since when have we ever respected someone's privacy?" Ron asked, outraged, "Mate, you are acting quite odd tonight."

Harry quickly looked down at the ground in hopes that no one would notice. "Never mind.... uh Dumbledore's always been honest with us," he said, trying to cover up his emotions.

"Perfect!" Hermione exclaimed, "We'll talk to him after dinner!"

"But how will we get rid of Mandy?" Ron asked. Next moment, both Hermione and Ron were staring at Harry, suggesting that he was the leader here - he should come up with the plan.

He looked back and forth between the two and quickly tried to think of something. "Uh... I'll... I'll... tell her she has to meet with the Head of House, Professor McGonagall, as a suggestion to catch up with us." Harry quickly replied.

"Right... she does seem quite anal about her grades," Ron said, beginning to mimic her in the childish fashion he had used the previous night, "I'll accept nothing less than an O."

Hermione smacked him swiftly upside the head, and shot him a glare.

"Owww! What the bloody hell was that for?"

"Prat..." Hermione glared at him and replied.

Harry couldn't help but laugh at the constant bickering they had with each other. Normally, it would anger him - but something just brought - happiness to him tonight.

"Sorry about that guys," Mandy said coming back to the table.

"Oh what... Oh you are back," Ron replied.

"Well apparently I wasn't missed very much," she smirked, her eyes squinting a bit with her smile.

Not wanting to give her the wrong impression, Harry attempted to quickly cover up Ron's mistake, "No, it's just that we got into some serious conversation for awhile," he said, noticing Hermione's glare of interest towards him, "and didn't uhhh really notice anything else that was going on."

"Well, what were you guys talking about?" she asked.

"We -" Harry had just been conveniently interrupted by Dumbledore, who was tapping his fork against his goblet to gain the student's attention again.

"Attention students, attention!"

Immediately, all heads turned to focus on Dumbledore.

"I am sad to announce that although tonight has been quite an eventful night, and although you wish to continue your conversations, I'm sure," he paused with a genial smirk, "it is time for you to go back to your common rooms."

The whole Great Hall had gained a look of great displeasure; some groaned and scoffed at this restricting news, and with a roll of the eyes, continued to whisper amongst themselves as they left the Great Hall. Harry, Hermione, and Ron on the other hand, had a plan.

After Dumbledore was done with his speech, and the other students started heading towards their common rooms, the three had started to slip away, but Mandy just as quickly caught hold of them.

"Um... guys, aren't the Common Rooms that way?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.

This question took them all of guard... _how did she already know where the Common Rooms were?_

"Well..." Hermione attempted to cover their plan up quickly, "we were going to go speak to Professor McGonagall about the work you need to catch up."

Mandy stared at Hermione suspiciously and skeptically at the remark she had just made, but nonetheless, denied Hermione's offer nicely.

"Well, thanks, that's nice of you guys, especially since I had completely forgotten, but I think I'll go do that myself... There are some other things I need to work out as well with our Head of House, but thanks for the thought."

'_Nice going, Hermione_,' Harry thought.

He couldn't have covered that up better himself - if Mandy was as concerned with grades as Hermione was, (which she practically was,) she'd want to go see Professor McGonagall herself.

"Oh, are you sure you don't want us to go with you?" Hermione asked innocently.

"No, that's alright... could you just tell me how to get there?"

"Ahh... Yes, it's..."

Harry couldn't believe how well this was working out, too perfectly in fact. The other thing he couldn't help but wonder is what the other things she had to sort out were... He hoped that he would find out from Dumbledore - but being Dumbledore, you can't expect him to do exactly what you think he will.

"And then you are there..." Hermione said, finishing off her instructions.

Mandy smiled, "Thanks, I'll meet you guys in the Common Room?"

"Yes," they replied in unison; Mandy laughed.

"Bye!"

"Bye!" they chorused back.

"Phew, we almost didn't make it..." Ron said, side-glancing at Mandy, who was walking a fair amount away from them by now.

"Yes, we are having an enormous amount of lucky chances tonight, aren't we?" Hermione replied slowly.

They then quickly ran to meet up with Dumbledore; little did they know that another person in an invisibility cloak was following them.

When they finally got to Dumbledore's office, Harry knew exactly what to say: "Sugar Quill!"

Hermione stared blankly at Harry, "Harry, how on earth did you know that?"

Ron responded quickly and urgently, "Hermione, we don't have time for that now," then turned towards Harry, "Harry, save that story for later."

Harry merely nodded in return, so that Ron acknowledged his agreeing on the matter.

Then, the trio, as well as the person underneath the invisibility cloak, rushed into his office - only to find that Dumbledore was waiting for them.

"Ah yes, I figured I'd be seeing you three after Mandana's welcome to our school..." Dumbledore paused with a smile, watching Prof. McGonagall and Prof. Snape suddenly dash in, "but I had not expected you two to come and ask the same questions of me as these three," he said with his eyes twinkling. "I would have thought that you would have trusted my judgment in such matters," he stated, still smiling curiously.

There was a slight awkward pause; Harry had to admit that this was the first time he had seen Professor McGonagall so uncomfortable.

"Well - sir - we, we were just curious, uh as to... why you perhaps ... didn't tell us?" she asked meekly.

Harry then looked towards Professor Snape, hoping to see that same uncomfortable look that Professor McGonagall had, but instead, was greeted by a face that was as stony as it usually was.

"Ahhh, but I did tell you..." Professor Dumbledore replied.

"You mean...?" Professor McGonagall replied aghast, trailing out.

"Yes, she is the one."

"Oh, oh my...." Professor McGonagall looked troubled.

"Well, now that that mess was cleared up, I suggest you two retreat back to your offices... You will find someone waiting for you there, Professor McGonagall." Professor Dumbledore informed her of what Harry, Hermione, and Ron already knew. As usual, he knew everything.

Immediately after the two left, the trio was left to ask the questions that had been plaguing their minds since Mandy's arrival.

"Now, I must inform you that although you must have formulated some plan to come and talk to me away from Mandy, obviously," he paused, "I can not answer any questions about her past life without her consent."

Within a snap of the fingers, a shard of paper appeared right from thin air and floated into Dumbledore's hands.

"What the bloody hell was that?" Ron asked, interested in the randomness of the piece of paper.

Dumbledore smiled knowingly, "Why, consent from Mandy of course..."

Harry, Ron, and Hermione's faces all drained of color; they thought their plan was absolutely concrete – there was no way she would guess.

"Oh, don't worry," Dumbledore said vaguely, "she understands the matter... and furthermore, that you three have an immense amount of curiosity."

"B-but," stammered Hermione, "h-how did she know we were coming to see you?"

Dumbledore continued to smile and replied; "She is an apt witch, and more intelligent than you think," he paused. "Now, I'm assuming you three have an abundance of questions for me... do feel free to begin your inquisition," he said, waving one of his hands out towards them acceptingly.

"Okay," Harry responded quickly, "why is she here? Why did she enter so late? Why is she so important that she can do this?"

Dumbledore nodded, expecting this situation to occur. "I shall answer you, but not with words... with visions, memories from the life of Mandana herself."

"Proctorus memorila displaicia," Dumbledore pronounced.

These words seemed oddly familiar to Harry, he had most definitely heard them before.... Then he remembered; Hermione had used this same spell to produce the screen to show her incident of the mysterious voice. The screen that had just come out of thin air had just fitted itself upon the nearest wall that had an empty space big enough on it and opened itself up. Suddenly after, a machine protruded out of the ceiling and came down to the level of the screen, as if a movie were about to begin. Before he knew what was about to happen, the screen started to fuzz and crackle, and the machine was ready to display some of the most important events in Mandy's life. They didn't even know what they were about to see, but that it would explain almost everything about her.


	10. Memories Paving the Way to Truth

A/N: Firstly, let me just warn you... this is an extremely long chapter, (24 pages in Microsoft word,) seeing as I really didn't want to separate the memories Mandy shows them for the sake that they all really do belong together in one way or another. Secondly, I profusely apologize for my lack of time, and thus, inability to comment on your comments. Although, I really do appreciate all you of you reading my story, (RavissemenT, Riina, Monkeys rok my sox, EW4eva, and Radical Princess,) honestly, thank you! Thirdly, for all those loyal readers of this story, as you can tell I've updated with a lot today – why? Mainly because I had all this written already, it just needed a HUGE amount of editing, and with pulling two all nighters in a row, I am done editing it! Huzzah! Lol So, saying what comes next will come as a completely shock to your system – there will be no updates for at least a week... seeing as tomorrow I'm going away to Virginia for a week and then, when I get back, a day after that, I have school again =0( so, honestly, I don't know how much I am going to update... alright, besides that.. ** gasps for air **Throughout some of the memories, I use song lyrics from the bands including: Ok Go (Don't Ask Me), Trapt (Headstrong), Uptown Girls Soundtrack (Charmed Life), Nickelback (Flat on the Floor), Linkin Park (Lying from You), and Evanescence (Whisper). Finally, ENJOY! Lol.

The screen clicked to the first scene, which Harry recognized instantly to be a duel between Mandy and another person, a male who Harry did not know. Mandy appeared to be calm, pacing slowly in a circle, alongside the other person with whom she was dueling with, wand by her side, prepared for duel.

"_So how are you, Mandy? I haven't seen you in awhile..." the male said smiling._

"_Cut the small talk, Elliot, we both know you are here for a reason," Mandy demanded, her fingers twirling the wand in her hand. _

_Elliot's grin slipped off his face, which had lost some of its color at Mandy's demand, and demanded a question back. "Why did you leave me?"_

_**Quit acting so friendly. **_

_**Don't nod don't laugh all nicely. **_

_**Don't think you'll up-end me. **_

_**Don't sigh, don't sip your iced-tea. **_

_**And don't say, "It's been a while..." **_

_**And don't flash that stupid smile.**_

_**Don't ask me**_

_**Don't ask me**_

_**Don't ask me how I've been.**_

"_You know perfectly well why, Elliot..." she began lazily, "You follow Voldemort, and **I** exist to break him down," she replied icily._

_He screamed, "You should've joined our side... your talent would've prospered, I **would've** loved you so much more."_

_She spit on the ground in anguish. She looked up towards him with eyes full of hatred. "I would never join his side, not even if it was in a struggle for my life; I'd rather die. I absolutely refuse to join forces from some pig-headed pompous ignorant maniac jerk!"_

"_Hmmm," Elliot said, pretending to think about what Mandy had just said seriously, "Yes, you're bull-headedness has always been a problem... Let's see what we can do about that then..." he paused momentarily. "Did I mention that nobody insults my master and gets away with it? Well, you like the rest, shall find that out!" _

_He ran up to her to attack her, perfectly aware he had a wand in his hand, but found that a physical beating would do more justice. He got up to her and attempted to grab her foot so he could drag her across the floor to begin the beating which he had promised her, although she apparently had other plans for him. _

"_Whatcha gonna do now, witch? Gonna use your useless magic?" He laughed._

"_No, you aren't worth my magic, Elliot. You really wanna know what I'm going to do though?" she inquired innocently. _

_He grinned, thinking there was nothing she could do without her magic, and was thrown off as she grinned in return. _

"_This is what I'm going to do," she said, the smirk on her face obvious._

_**Don't think I've forgotten **_

_**you never liked that necklace. **_

_**So cordial, so rotten... **_

_**Kiss, kiss, let's meet for breakfast. **_

_**Don't show up so on-time **_

_**and don't act like you're so kind**_

_**Don't ask me**_

_**Don't ask me**_

_**Don't ask me how I've been.**_

_Mandy, thinking quick, let him grab her foot, but dug her heel into his palms, pushed herself up a bit, then twisted the leg that was being held onto around to kick him in the face with her free foot, thus releasing her other leg. At the same time, Mandy was pulling her arms in across her chest to make it easier to perform this feat. Finally she landed with a thud, her feet had at last hit the ground, and she remained perfectly erect. _

_He landed on the ground on his back, a loud thud sounding in the area. "You witch!" He cried out of anguish and pain, pushing himself up from the ground._

_She slyly retorted, "You don't have to state the obvious, Elliot." _

"_You're just a girl, you have no **real** power..." he laughed, "what are you going to do?"._

"_You know perfectly well what I'm capable of doing," she side-commented, "but just in case you don't remember..." _

_She walked up to him angrily, grabbed him by the arm, and flipped him over onto his back again. "Oops, did **IIII**, a girl, with **no power**... do that?" she mocked. "You frankly disgust me, Elliot... it's no wonder why you went to Voldemort," she paused, "because no one else wanted you." She sneered. _

_**Don't sit there and play just **_

_**so frank, so straight, so candid, **_

_**so thoughtful, so gracious, **_

_**so sound, so even-handed. **_

_**Don't be so damn benign **_

_**and don't waste my freaking time.**_

_**Don't ask me how I've been.**_

_She then knocked him against an adjacent wall so hard, so hard that he went unconscious._

"_Curiosity killed the cat," she said, bemused, "or in this case - knocked out the prat."_

_**Don't ask me how I've been.**_

The screen then faded, leaving a brief moment for them all to talk before it continued onto the next scene.

"Well she's a little bit violent," Ron stated sarcastically.

Dumbledore replied simply, bearing his usual smile, "Well, it's her job, it was self-defense, and it angered her that he was just using her to bring her into the dark side... they just wanted her because of the powers she possessed, she was completely disregarded as trash by him otherwise - he abused her."

Harry began to ask a question. "Wait, what job? What powers? Why is she so important?"

"Shhh...." Dumbledore whispered, "All your questions will be answered in time, Harry, just continue to keep watching the screen."

Almost as if on cue, the screen the quickly flickered to the next memory it would be displaying.

_A door opened into a room, and Mandy walked in, commenting quickly upon the situation. "Tsk, tsk, tsk," she tutted sarcastically, "I'm so upset that I was not invited to this party," she paused, "although apparently my friends were..." gesturing at her two best friends, taking their mouth gags off in the process. "And **I** thought **I** was the guest of honor..." she paused, but quickly continued from where she left off, "but apparently I am not as important anymore," she raised an eyebrow, while wearing a mischievous grin - just tempting them to challenge her._

"_Why we would never think of excluding you, Mandy," Lucius Malfoy replied smoothly, a smirk prominent on his face. _

"_I didn't think so," she proclaimed simply, "and thus here I am..." still smiling, she continued, "don't you have anything to say to me?"_

_**Circling your head, contemplating everything you ever said**_

_**Now I see the truth, I got doubt**_

_**A different motive in your eyes and now I'm out**_

_**See you later**_

_**I see your fantasy; you want to make it a reality paved in gold**_

_**See inside, Inside of our heads (yeah) **_

_**Well now that's over**_

_**I see your motives inside, decisions to hide**_

"_Avada Ked-" _

"_Silencio!" Mandy raised her wand to silence him, a smile playing at her lips, "Now, now, I will not have any of that!" _

_The Death Eaters no longer restrained themselves as they had just seen one of their own attacked; now all other 11 Death Eaters had come in to fight, rushing towards her immediately._

"_Oh, I'm so glad you all wish to talk with me, I've been meaning to have a word with you," Mandy replied sarcastically, still smiling._

_There they were - attacking her, physically, magically, anything they could do to break her down... but she was too quick for them, too prepared and stepped up to the challenge. _

_**Back off I'll take you on**_

_**Headstrong to take on anyone**_

_**I know that you are wrong**_

_**Headstrong we're Headstrong**_

_**Back off I'll take you on**_

_**Headstrong to take on anyone**_

_**I know that you are wrong and this is not where you belong**_

_**I can't give everything away**_

_**I won't give everything away**_

_Two Death Eaters each grabbed one of her arms in a quick attempt to stop her and another replied, "Finished already?"_

_She smiled in return and simply said in a challenging way, "I have only just begun." _

_**Conclusions manifest, your first impressions got to be your very best**_

_**I see you're full of it, and that's alright**_

_**That's how you play; I guess you'll get through every night**_

_**Well now that's over**_

_**I see your fantasy; you want to make it a reality paved in gold**_

_**See inside, inside of our heads (yeah) **_

_**Well now that's over**_

_**I see your motives inside, decisions to hide**_

_She then flipped backwards while the other two were still holding her arms in the process, and kicked their backs - forcing them to fall upon the ground, and then continued to flip backward once more, so she could land on her feet properly. She stopped afterwards, standing angrily, now impatient with the length of this fight._

"_This fight is absolutely frivolous and ridiculous, pointless even... where is Voldemort, that cowardly fool I seek... he has sent his mere minions after me, to attempt to break me down, how absurd! Where is this man who fears the face of a mere teenager, where is the man who has been constantly thwarted by two teenagers, where is this man who fears me, who fears **us**? I dare him to reveal_ _himself; hiding will get him nowhere... for if he does not come out to duel, I will come after him time and time again - to kill him for those he has killed, to reestablish a peace throughout the world, to finally see him defeated. It is time, after all, for revenge..." She boomed. _

_The Death Eaters were prepared to retaliate against her for offending their master yet again, but stopped when they heard their master speak. "You do not fear me then?" He called from a distance._

_Mandy quickly swiveled around to get a view of him and replied: "I fear no one, I'm the most powerful witch you will ever live to see..." she paused, "Besides, you have stolen my friends in order to obtain me, have you not? So here I am..." she said, standing with her arms out to greet him, "but the question is, where are you?" She looked carefully to both sides of her, as if to suddenly seek him out._

"_This is true, and so I am just as prepared to duel." Voldemort finally came out from hiding and revealed his face to Mandy, as they began to engage in a duel._

_Meanwhile in the background, her friends continued to chatter on - as if this was normal:_

"_And why couldn't you save us, Abby?" _

"_Although you are a Muggle, you know perfectly well I'm a squib, Raven..." _

"_Squib... schmib, I happen to know Mandy is teaching you magic," Raven replied impatiently._

"_I suppose... but I'm not that good," said Abby trying to defend herself in her argument about how well she could perform magic – which she remarked was not that good at all._

"_Well, couldn't you at least **try**?" Raven asked impatiently, "I mean this is the 5th... 6th..." she paused, "How many times has she saved our behinds now?" _

"_Oh, I'd say about 10..." Abby replied carelessly, waving her hand to dismiss the subject._

_Although the view was focused towards Abby and Raven, the trio could still hear the duel in process behind them with random incantations that included phrases such as: "Imperio!" _

"_You know fully well that doesn't work on a trained Occlumens, Voldy..." she paused to duck another spell aimed at her. "Impedimenta!" she countered. _

"_Stupefy!" _

"_Expelliarmus!" she paused again to add commentary, "Your wand is your weakness, Tom. For just as I have easily done, I can overcome you."_

_**Back off I'll take you on**_

_**Headstrong to take on anyone**_

_**I know that you are wrong**_

_**Headstrong we're Headstrong**_

_**Back off I'll take you on**_

_**Headstrong to take on anyone**_

_**I know that you are wrong and this is not where you belong**_

_**I can't give everything away**_

I won't give everything away 

"_Exactly my point!" Raven declared._

_Abby gave her a disapproving look, still refusing to believe she was any good at magic. _

"_Oh, alright, well couldn't you at least zap us some food? I'm getting hungry here..." Raven replied truthfully. _

"_That I can do!" Abby beamed, as she zapped some popcorn there magically. _

"_That's more like it!" Raven smiled greedily, as she eyed the magicked popcorn hungrily._

_The duel between Mandy and Lord Voldemort was still very audible in the background as the view was still focused on Abby and Raven background:_

"_Accio wand!" Lord Voldemort shouted above all the ruckus, "You have not defeated me, Mandy; you have merely delayed my plans... Come Death Eaters, we will take leave, but fear not Mandy – I will be back."_

_**I know, I know all about [x3]**_

_**I know, I know all about your motives inside, and your decision to hide**_

"_Coward!" Mandy shouted into the darkness, "How dare you run from a duel!"_

_She went down to a whisper, looking desperately downtrodden. "How am I supposed to fulfill my prophecy if you keep running away...."_

The memory faded out; another part of Mandy's life had been displayed and ended in front of them, leaving them in a momentary pause of silence.

Harry paused for a moment after the screen had flickered onto darkness, and then looked at Dumbledore curiously. "She has a prophecy as well?"

"Yes, I didn't plan on telling you, but I suppose if it came up in her memories it would be just in doing so... I will inform you about them after we have gone through the memories she's allowing us to see."

"How the bloody hell does she _do_ all that - that, well, that self-defense stuff?" Ron asked, in awe of how easily Mandy fought back.

Dumbledore chuckled as he responded with a simple word: "Training."

They all gave him a look of befuddlement; "Training?!"

Dumbledore smiled knowingly. "You'll see," he said.

"Why does she act so... so calm around Voldemort?" Harry asked, as Ron shuddered in the background at the mention of Voldemort's name.

This time, Dumbledore responded with a more serious nature; "She has encountered him more than enough times to know him, his weaknesses, his strengths. Remember how many times Abby and Raven said she saved them... Well who do you think she saved them from?"

"Bloody hell," replied Ron, "I didn't think anyone faced off with you-know-who more than Harry here," he said, pointing to Harry with his thumb.

The screen began to flicker impatiently, as if it were waiting for their conversation to end, then regardless, began to display a scene between Abby and Mandy. The pair of them were sitting by a cauldron, which contained a green simmering potion, talking to each other about the possibility of going to Hogsmeade.

"_Mandy, after this, do you think we could head off to Hogsmeade?" Abby paused, "I mean - you do get days off right?" Abby asked playfully._

_Mandy laughed happily, "I wish!" she paused, "Although... I could make my own vacation day..." she smiled mischievously._

"_Oh dear, what do you have planned now?" Abby inquired, playing along with Mandy's scheme._

"_Oh nothing, nothing that you should be worried about, m'dear." Mandy responded with a smile. "Meanwhile, I should check on this potion of mine - it only has 2 minutes left before I should finish heating it... If I don't get this potion right this time, he'll kill me." _

"_What potion are you making...?" Abby asked with a small air of interest._

"_Well, I am supposed to be making a Swelling Solution to which he has the antidote, you know, in one of those rare incidents my potion works. But, for a day off..." she paused light-heartedly, "I all have to do is add one ingredient and it will become a different potion of which I need, one of which is the few I excel at!" She smiled while slipping some wormwood into the potion._

_**It's a charmed life **_

_**Innocence wild **_

_**Crayola skies for a thousand miles **_

_**It's a good life in the happily ever after **_

_**Last page of a very last chapter **_

_**It's the story of a charmed life**_

"_What did you just add in, Mandy?" Abby asked curiously, a smile teasing her lips._

"_Oh, you'll find out soon enough, Abby," Mandy replied, grinned from ear to ear._

_Both girls laughed at Mandy's mischievousness; Mandy was fully aware of what potion she was making, whilst Abby was amused at the prospect of fooling Mandy's trainer._

_**It's a charmed life **_

_**Unexplainable grace **_

_**Stumbling, you fall right into place **_

_**It's a childlike world and you can feel the magic **_

_**Far from the typically tragic **_

_**That's the beauty of a charmed life**_

_While they were laughing, the two girls hadn't noticed the entrance of a man with dark brown hair, dark brown eyes, and a common black robe. "What is so funny you two?" he inquired suspiciously._

"_Oh nothing," Mandy replied innocently and sweetly._

_**Who needs to know **_

_**When it all comes and when it all goes **_

_**Who needs to know just when **_

_**Fate will take you there**_

_He then approached the cauldron, looking back and forth between the expressions of the once laughing girls, becoming war; now approaching the whole situation with caution._

"_What's wrong with you?" Mandy asked. "You act as if I put some ingredients in there that might endanger or sustain your health."_

'Well, that was oddly specific,' Harry thought, amusedly.

"_Well, you have been known for never getting your potions right on the first shot, so I don't know what to expect."_

_Mandy rolled her eyes; "Well, you've tested my potions before and somehow managed to survive, haven't you? Just test the potion so I can get on with my life," she huffed impatiently._

"_Well, don't plan on going anywhere," the man responded, "we have training in the gym after this, as you well know."_

_Mandy mumbled a faint "Don't remind me."_

"_What'd you say?" The man asked, donning a raised eyebrow._

"_I said you're an even worse procrastinator than I am... just drink the stuff already!"_

"_All right, all right, I suppose you really didn't do anything purposely to this..." He said, about to drink the potion._

"_Now, I never said that," Mandy mumbled. _

_**It's a charmed life **_

_**Innocence wild **_

_**Crayola skies for a thousand miles **_

_**It's a good life in the happily ever after **_

_**Last page of a very last chapter **_

_**It's the story of a charmed life **_

_**Na na na... **_

_**Na na na...**_

"_For Merlin's sake, what'd you say?" he asked, clearly exasperated with Mandy's whispered side-comments._

"_What'd I say?" she put on an outraged face, "Here I am waiting for you to test my bloody potion, and you keep procrastinating claiming to hear voices! I suggest you get a hearing aid so we don't come across this nuisance again."_

"_I just have a feeling you're hiding a secret from me," he responded._

"_I'm not hiding any secrets from you," she said defensively._

_**Who needs to know **_

_**When it all comes and when it all goes **_

_**Who needs to know just when **_

_**I know you'll be there (I know you'll be there)**_

_Although wary, the man finally drank the potion and instantly dropped to the floor._

"_Okay, so I was hiding a secret," she smiled, satisfied, "but what's new? You only trained me to do so... honestly, next time, try Veritaserum, it works better," Mandy suggested to the unconscious body._

_Abby stared at Mandy suspiciously; "What did you do to him?"_

_**It's a charmed life **_

_**Innocence wild **_

_**Crayola Skies for a thousand miles **_

_**It's a good life in the happily ever after **_

_**Last page of a very last chapter **_

_**It's the story of a charmed life**_

_She smiled back, "Simple Sleeping Potion... It'll knock him out for awhile, so do you think we'll be able to go to Hogsmeade now, Abby?"_

_They both laughed as Mandy continued to wipe away the remnants of the potion in the cauldron using "Evanesco!"_

_**Na na na... **_

_**(It's the story of a charmed life) **_

_**Na na na... **_

_**(It's the beauty of a charmed life) **_

_**Na na na... **_

_**(It's the story of a charmed life) **_

_**Na na na... **_

_**(It's the beauty of a charmed life) **_

_**Na na na... **_

_**Na na na...**_

The screen yet again faded out, this time though, there was an immediate response from Hermione whose eyes seemed to be slightly glazed over. "B-before, she said she was a trained Occlumens, didn't she?"

"Yes, she did, and yes, she is." Dumbledore responded patiently.

"So _that's_ why she kept giving me strange looks when I kept telling her those lies." Hermione said slowly, in a pace that showed she was grasping onto a concept.

Dumbledore laughed politely. "Yes, she was quite confused why someone as nice as you was lying so early to her."

Hermione blushed at the thought that Mandy knew she was already lying to her; had she known Mandy was an Occlumens, she would've been more careful.

"So that was her trainer I'm assuming?" Ron inquired.

"Correct again," Dumbledore said delightfully, "he has known her since childhood."

"Childhood!" Harry exclaimed. Why did somebody have to be trained for _that_ long after all? Was she really that important?

"Why yes," Dumbledore said, his fingers clasped together to form a steeple position; the fingers lightly drumming upon one another in their upward position, "when she was 7 years old her talents began to show frequently. Later on, the Ministry found out of her true talent and of her prophecy, and immediately sent over a trainer to train her magically and physically while she attended a Muggle school."

"And just think, Ron, you've been complaining about only your magical studies! She has to do both," Hermione with great emphasis.

"Yes, but she didn't have to have you breathing down her neck the whole time!" Ron muttered.

"What did you say?" Hermione cast him an offended look, huffing with anger as she moved further away from him.

Dumbledore chuckled. "Shhh... It's about to start again."

The next thing they saw on the screen was Mandy running through a forest, fast and swift, almost as if floating on air. She was, as Harry goggled at the screen, literally floating on air - without trying, but kept forcing her feet back upon the forest floor.

_**Not like I need to depend upon anyone**_

_**Since I can see the lack of need for me to be here at all**_

_**One more anthem for the know it all**_

_**I won't be standing up for long I better learn how to crawl**_

_**Learn how to crawl**_

In ten minutes I'll be laying out flat on the floor 

_As she continued to run on the grass, through the thick brush and other natural obstacles, it seemed as if she did not run out of breath - for she did not stop running, she did not even pant, it was almost as if she wasn't human. At the same time though, she had to be human, for there were tears of anger, hatred, and frustration running down her cheeks, while she tried to keep herself from tripping over tree roots. And although her clothes were tattered a bit, her face almost out of conscious color and bearing splotches of dirt, and although it was obvious she was tired, she continued to run. _

_**Like I need to defend my own innocence**_

_**So what, I did it, I admit it, and I'm pleading the 5th**_

_**One more anthem for the know it all**_

_**I won't be standing up for long I better learn how to crawl**_

_**Learn how to crawl**_

_**In ten minutes I'll be laying out flat on the floor**_

_Mandy ran through the forest fast and furious; it was obvious that she was not just running for the sake of exercise, in fact, it seemed to him as if she running for only one reason, to get away from somewhere - from someone, and as fast as she could._

_Next thing they knew, the memory flickered to another memory for a brief moment, showing a glimpse of a conversation: "Why couldn't you just levitate like you normally do?" Raven asked._

"_Leaves a trail," she simply responded, "They've become apt at hunting The Mandy," she ended mock-dramatically. _

_**8 minutes from losing it a little bit**_

_**5 minutes your description might be starting to fit**_

_**3 to go and I'm forgetting all that I've ever known**_

_**I won't be standing up for long I better learn how to crawl**_

_Quickly, the scene flickered back to the original memory, but at this point she had finally made her way out of the forest and onto a desolate road. When she reached here, she seemed to have gained a better sense of security, because this is where she.... Apparated?_

_Yet again, the scene flickered to the brief conversation bit they had witnessed before, and continued on with it._

"_Why did you Apparate here? I thought that left a trail too." Raven said, confused._

"_It does," Mandy replied, exhausted and gaunt, "but I was desperate to get away..."_

_**Not like I need to depend upon anyone**_

_**Since I can see the lack of need for me to be here at all**_

_**One more anthem for the know it all**_

_**I won't be standing up for long I better learn how to crawl**_

_**Learn how to crawl**_

"_And I suppose you found a reason to not use the weather as a beneficial factor in this situation as well?" Raven asked rhetorically. _

"_Oh for heaven's sake," Mandy replied, exasperated at how long this conversation was continuing for, considering the circumstances, "it's too risky and noticeable. Listen, I really don't have time for this question and answer period."_

_Raven asked one last vital question; "Why?"_

_**In ten minutes I'll be laying out flat on the floor**_

_**I can't stand up at all**_

_**Can't see nothing at all**_

_**In ten minutes I'll be laying out flat on the floor**_

_Mandy hissed back a response; "Witch Hunters..."_

"Witch hunters?" Ron asked blankly.

"Yes, well not literal witch hunters per se, it was something like a nickname Mandy gave them..." Dumbledore replied, waving his hand absently.

"Then what are they?" Harry asked, almost as if finishing Ron's question.

"Death Eaters," Dumbledore said, as if it should be of no shock.

Yet, Hermione was found to be quite shocked, still trying to grasp everything they were being shown within this brief expanse of time. "I don't get it, what do they want with her exactly?"

"Well, Hermione, it's not as much what they want with her," Dumbledore paused, his age becoming more apparent and prominent with every explanation he gave, "it's what they want with her because of her prophecy."

They all wanted to ask what her prophecy was again, but yet another memory was appearing on the screen, thus occupying their minds.

The memory had entered with Mandy kneeling down to tie her shoelaces, and talking to Abby, who was standing there waiting for Mandy to finish. They were on a navy blue track, and both seemed quite out of breath, yet they were continuing on from an already started conversation between their spurts of heavy breathing.

"_Well... one of the things I hate about being an Auror, and being who I am, is that it makes you very paranoid," Mandy stated firmly._

"_Oh come on, you're a natural, what do you have to worry about? How should that_ _make you paranoid?" Abby asked rhetorically. _

_Mandy replied with an annoyed tone of voice, "Well gee, when so many people are constantly after you because you have some stupid prophesy you wish you didn't have in the first place, it kind of happens. Wherever you turn, there's another person to face - sometimes, one you wish you didn't have to. But, you have to because 'it's your job, Mandy,' they will say, 'it's your purpose.' And -"_

_Abby sighed, "You're rambling again, Mandy."_

_Mandy literally appeared as if she was shaking the situation off her mind, "Sorry, it's just sometimes it gets -"_

"_Frustrating?" Abby asked, completing her sentence for her._

"_Yeah," Mandy solemnly agreed._

_After running around the remaining semi-circle of the track in silence, they had just reached the marking of where one would finish a race, and began to leave the track when they were interrupted._

"_Hello, girls," Mandy's trainer said._

_Mandy groaned, "What do you want from me now?"_

"_Oh nothing... except a couple more laps around the track from **you**," he said, pointing specifically to Mandy._

"_How many is a couple more laps, Mark?" Mandy asked tiredly._

"_Only 20," he said, attempting a tone of innocence. _

"_That's 5 more miles!" Mandy complained. "I've already run 10!"_

"_Then 5 more won't hurt, will it?" Mark smiled._

_Mandy rolled her eyes. "Maybe not me, but you may be severely damaged afterwards," she said, giving an empty threat, and aiming a cold glare towards Mark. _

_Abby though, sat out on the sidelines, waiting patiently for Mandy to come with her. _

"_Sorry, Abby," Mandy replied with a frown, "it appears I have to stay here a while longer... Listen, I'll see you tomorrow... I have more -"_

_Abby cut her off, completing her sentence again, "Training to do?"_

"_Yeah," Mandy said somberly, "Sorry, but you know how it is... I mean I really have no say over it, I would change it if I could..." _

"_Yeah, I remember," Abby mumbled, walking away upset, "Magic first, everything else - last." _

_Mandy watched sorrowfully as Abby walked away, and distinctly muttered, "If only I could magick a normal life... yes, that'd be the day..."_

"_Come on, Mandy, what are you waiting for?" Mark asked, interrupting her thoughts._

"_The impossible," Mandy said under her breath, and began running the track again in a furious effort to finish. _

Harry, Ron, and Hermione were left seemingly speechless after this one. _Was her life honestly that bad that she would sacrifice magick just to be a Muggle?_

Not even Dumbledore was going to break the silence, he didn't dare; there was something too tense about a moment when one questions their life in such a way.

So the four of them continued to wait in silence, watching the screen for the next memory Mandana would share with them.

Luckily, they did not have to wait very long as the next memory was slowly coming onto the screen, displaying a place in the forest, with... Dementors?

Immediately, Harry's face flushed before the screen, he knew well how effective Dementors were.

The memory then closed in upon Mandy, who stood in front of Abby and Raven, in order to protect them from the Dementors. Although Mandy was trying to protect them, she didn't look in a very healthy condition herself. She stood there with a very wan face, and kept backing away from the Dementors as much as she could.

"_No, No, I didn't mean to - I had to," she whispered with the slightest bit of fear lingering in her eyes, one of which she quickly tried to hide from the Dementors that were surrounding her and her friends. _

_She then turned back to her friends to talk to them, trying to shake the slight tremor out of her voice. "Guys," she said hesitantly, "I can only hold them up for so much longer - I only have the strength in me for one more," she paused, "well a big one more... Patronus I mean, and - and then it's up to you."_

"_Al-all right, just do it..." Raven replied quickly, her eyes wide and fearful of the approaching soul-sucking creatures._

_Mandy stood there for a moment, clearly weary and slightly fearful, but tried to overcome all her weaknesses so she could save her friends from these horrible creatures. Then, with all the strength she could muster, she yelled the words, "EXPECTO PATRONUM!!!" _

_By doing this, she had produced the largest Patronus Harry had ever seen, and one of the most graceful - a unicorn. After that, it seemed she literally did as she said she would - she used all her strength, and fainted._

The image then slowly faded out, the light from the Patronus still glowing upon the screen as the rest of it faded black.

"Blimey," said Ron bluntly, "that was one huge Patronus if I ever saw one."

"Well," Dumbledore started, slightly bemused, "she did put all her heart and strength into it. Mandy is not the one to let her friends suffer, to her, they are family."

"But... what was she so frightened about?" Hermione asked curiously. "She doesn't seem the type to easily get frightened."

"Hmm," Dumbledore replied, smiling, slightly nodding his head, "Knowing Mandy, she probably placed that memory next for us to view."

Within a moment, all four heads flickered towards the screen in hopes to see the next memory Mandy would display that would hopefully clarify some of the foggy details.

Just as if on command, the screen began to show the next memory, which was apparently the exact - same - forest.

Mandy appeared to be having a breakdown, for her face was pallid with shock, disgust, and fear. Mandy's lip was trembling a bit, and it seemed as if she was utterly speechless for she had opened her mouth a bit and closed it, and looked around hopelessly, her eyes heavy with burden stronger than her age.

"_Y-you, y-you, you, h-how dare you! How dare you!" she paused, her mouth partially open with horror and disgust. "How could you betray the Order like that... how could you betray me?" she asked, not really expecting an answer, wearing a face embedded with worries._

_**I don't know who to trust, no surprise**_

_**Everyone feels so far away from me**_

_**Heavy thoughts sift through dust and the lies**_

_**Trying not to break, but I'm so tired of this deceit**_

_**Every time I try to make myself get back up on my feet**_

_**All I ever think about is this**_

_**All the tiring time between**_

_**And how trying to put my trust in you just takes so much out of me**_

"_Mandy, I swear, please just forgive me, I didn't mean to, please - don't do it, please!" A girl who appeared to be of about the same age pleaded back._

_**Take everything from the inside, and throw it all away**_

_**Cause I swear for the last time I won't trust myself with you**_

"_You were my friend, I - I could never forgive a betrayal like that," she paused, her eyes carrying great hurt and disbelief, "especially from a friend," she said, trembling, her eyes forming tears, "Y-you could never take back what you have said, what you have done, y-you've given away too much already - a-and t-that has c-consequences." _

_Mandy took her wand out and pointed it towards the girl, her hand holding her wand shaking profusely._

_**Tension is building inside steadily**_

_**Everyone feels so far away from me**_

_**heavy thoughts forcing their way out of me**_

_**Trying not to break but I'm so tired of this deceit**_

_**Every time I try to make myself get back up on my feet**_

_**All I ever think about is this**_

_**All the tiring time between**_

_**And how trying to put my trust in you just takes so much out of me**_

"_PLEASE, MANDY, HEAR ME OUT! PLEASE, NO, PLEASE... PLEASE DON'T!" The girl pleaded with Mandy again._

_Mandy's face clearly displayed that she was experiencing nothing more than pain at the moment. Well, except maybe dread._

_**Take everything from the inside, and throw it all away**_

_**Cause I swear for the last time I won't trust myself with you**_

"_I'm sorry, Rachel, I'm sorry, I'm so so sorry, really... A-." she paused; gulping back all of her tears, trying to rid herself of all the emotion that was surging through her. "Avada Kedavra!" she slowly yelled as loud as she could with what little strength she had left. _

_**I won't waste myself on you**_

_**Waste myself on you**_

_**You**_

_The world was spinning around her, everything that was right, was wrong; it just didn't make any sense. She fell to the ground on her knees, and looked at what she had just done. She then broke into silent sobs; tears were streaming down her face. _

_**I'll take everything from the inside, and throw it all away**_

_**Cause I swear for the last time I won't trust myself with you**_

"_Why - why did you make me do that?" She whispered bitterly into the night._

_**Everything from the inside, and just throw it all away**_

_**Cause I swear for the last time I won't trust myself with you**_

_**You**_

"S-she had to kill her own friend?" Ron asked slowly, appalled by what he had just seen.

"Well, in all reality," Dumbledore sighed heavily, "the matter should not have been addressed, for Mandy nor her friend was old enough to be in the Order, but sometimes things just happen that one cannot control," Dumbledore shook his head sadly.

Harry, Hermione, and Ron all leaned in a bit more as if to show more interest in what Dumbledore had to say, and to encourage him to go on.

"Well, the story is that she, Mandy, was in the Order - not by our choice, mind you - she was finding out our secrets on her own. So, leaving us with no choice, we had to let her in. Apparently though, it was too late to stop the spread of secrets to Voldemort, because she had happened to let some of these secrets slip out to her friend with whom she thought she could trust her life, one that was later threatened by the Dark Lord himself for information. So, unbeknownst to Mandy, Rachel was continually leaking out all the secrets Mandy had told her to Voldemort - in order to save her own life. Ironically enough, it's also what caused her downfall. As soon as Mandy found out, she knew what she had to do, as much as she didn't want to do it, and did it."

"Oh," Hermione whispered, "that's terrible."

The screen yet again flickered impatiently, signaling the four of them to turn their attention back to the screen. In catching their attention, it continued with the next memory they were to be shown.

Yet again, Harry noticed they were in a wooded area - he was starting to see a pattern with these memories.

_Raven was backing up unknowingly into a tree, and some unseen person had just aimed a spell at her. Then, suddenly, out of nowhere, a girl with reddish-brown hair and tan skin appeared in front of Raven, blocking her from the spell, and absorbing the blow herself. _

"_You will not harm any of my friends," she said darkly. Although she had arrived just in the nick of time, she had, instead of her friend, received the effect of the spell and gasped slightly as it came into contact with her skin. _

"_Mandy!" Raven gasped._

_Mandy then immediately grabbed Raven, supporting her, because Raven had already been hit by a few spells herself, and then Apparated Raven and herself to a separate, more desolate place in the forest. _

_When she got there, she was still supporting her friend, and began to limp; she was bringing her friend to the nearest tree to place her down. Both girls had left the duel harmed, bruised, and seemingly falling apart. Mandy had more of a severe injury, while Raven had more minor ones - but still enough to affect a Muggle severely as opposed to a witch or warlock, who naturally heals faster. _

"_Go, go save yourself," Raven replied weakly, breathing heavily as she leaned against the tree trunk._

"_No! I refuse to, I have just enough energy left in me to save you and bring myself back to my normal appearance, so no Muggle can identify me."_

"_But, Mandy..."_

"_Listen, all I have is a prophecy to fulfill, Raven, it is assumed that once I fulfill it - I will die anyway. No matter what, I will die in the end as all people do," Mandy said, _

"_Let me save you instead, you have a whole life ahead of you."_

_At this point, Raven was too weak to argue her side of it any further; she was starting to go unconscious. Mandy quickly leaned over Raven, and placing her hands slightly above Raven's wounds, began to heal her by mending the cuts and other injuries inflicted upon her. _

"_Now," Mandy said, "once I am done healing you, there will be some magical residue that will linger on your skin for 24 hours... I'm just warning you in case -" _

_Although Mandy had continued to speak, Raven would not hear it, for she had completely blacked out at that point._

_As soon as Mandy had finished healing all of Raven's wounds, she changed back into her normal appearance and, she herself collapsed on the snow-covered ground unconscious._

_A few hours later, Raven woke up to find Mandy lying on the ground enclosed by red snow that seemed to form around her head. _

"_Oh my god," Raven said, panicked, "What happened to her?" _

_She then immediately rushed over to Mandy to see where she was bleeding from, and soon found out it was from the neck. "Oh, god, this is serious... What am I going to do? We are in the middle of the forest!" _

_Without thinking, Raven searched through Mandy's robes, and took out her wand, pointing it towards the sky. To her surprise, red sparks came out, giving her the exact result she had wanted. _

"_Yes!" She exclaimed, "Surely someone will see that!" _

_She paused, now realizing that she was a Muggle and had no magic in her, and wondered how she had just done that. She then reenacted the whole situation from the night before in her mind, and it was then she remembered what Mandy said. **'Now, once I am done healing you, there will be some magical residue that will linger on your skin for 24 hours...' **_

"_Wow," Raven said, "Mandy, you are a genius. You just saved your own life!"_

"How on Earth did she know she was going to need Raven to save her?" Harry asked, honestly baffled.

Dumbledore replied; "She didn't, she didn't have the time or energy to plan anything in fact."

"You mean, she truly thought and accepted the fact that she was going to die?" Hermione asked hesitantly, in an almost hushed voice.

"Yes." Dumbledore said simply, in the same tone of voice Hermione had used.

Waiting patiently, they all kept to themselves as they waited for the remainder of Mandy's choice memories to be displayed.

Finally, in breaching the silence, the next memory brought itself upon the screen.

The memory opened up to a typical Muggle high school with a shabby, yet durable interior. It had tan brick walls, vast hallways, and a red tile-like floor.

_Raven and Mandy were walking to their next class, talking, when all of a sudden Mandy gasped and fell to her knees. She had shut her eyes suddenly, her eyelids pressed tightly against her skin. She then immediately grabbed Raven's arm and squeezed it so hard that it eventually dragged Raven down to her level._

_**Catch me as I fall**_

_**Say you're here and it's all over now**_

_**Speaking to the atmosphere**_

_**No one's here and I fall into myself**_

_**This truth drives me into madness**_

_**I know I can stop the pain if I will it all away**_

"_What are you doing?" Raven exclaimed. _

_Mandy proceeded to clamp down harder on Raven's arm, causing her to cry out in pain. "Ow! Are you ok? Do you need to go to the Nurse's Office?" _

_Mandy flinched, and then let go of Raven's arm; bringing her arm quickly now, alongside her other arm, to her stomach; appearing doubled over in pain, and moaned slightly. Raven involuntarily went to tend to her arm, trying to rub away the pain slowly. Although momentarily Raven was concerned about her own arm, she quickly brought attention back to Mandy. _

"_Mandy," she said, snapping her fingers, "Mandy, you there? You ok?" She paused for a moment, waiting for a response. "Helllllooooooooo..." she said, slightly annoyed at being ignored, and bent down to attempt to look at Mandy in the eyes._

_**Don't turn away**_

_**Don't give in to the pain**_

_**Don't try to hide**_

_**Though they're screaming your name**_

_**Don't close your eyes**_

_**God knows what lies behind them**_

_**Don't turn out the light**_

_**Never sleep, never die**_

_Then, at that moment, Mandy's eyes snapped open into pure shock. "Raven!" Mandy gasped._

"_Oh, now you talk to me..." Raven retorted, annoyed at the charade Mandy had just put on._

"_Sorry, I um, need to know... how long have I been in this... unconscious-like state...?" _

"_You were unconscious?" Raven asked, genuinely shocked._

"_Sort of... Listen! I just need you to tell me... how long have I been like this?" she asked, urgently._

"_Well..." Raven started, as if it was obvious, "about 5 minutes, why?"_

"_Damnit, we don't have much time then." Mandy jumped up, shaking a bit, but never the less, stable. "Come on," Mandy said as she gripped Raven's arm. _

_Mandy then broke into a mad dash down the hallway, dragging Raven along with her as she dodged her way past the other students._

_**I'm frightened by what I see**_

_**But somehow I know that there's much more to come**_

_**Immobilized by my fear**_

_**And soon to be blinded by tears**_

_**I can stop the pain if I will it all away**_

"_Where are we going?" Raven asked demandingly. "What's going on?"_

"_We're going to find Abby, I -."_

"_Abby?" Raven cried, stopping short, "Oh, for heaven's sake, we don't have time to have idle chitchat with her... we have to get to class!" Raven said, exasperated._

"_It's a bit more than idle chitchat, Raven, it's -" Mandy began, being cut off by screams and gasps. "Oh no, please don't let it be too late... Please! Please!" Mandy cried fiercely. _

_Raven stood shocked at the scene she was just brought into, her feet felt as if they were glued to the ground. The next moment, a gunshot sounded, there was a scream, and Raven could feel Mandy's grip on her arm suddenly vanish._

"_Oh my god! Mandy!" cried a familiar voice. It was Abby. "Why did you do that? Why did you jump in front of me? That should've been me!" she cried, "That should've been me!"_

_**Don't turn away**_

_**Don't give in to the pain**_

_**Don't try to hide**_

_**Though they're screaming your name**_

_**Don't close your eyes**_

_**God knows what lies behind them**_

_**Don't turn out the light**_

_**Never sleep, never die**_

_Raven now looked completely shocked at the scene unfolding before her eyes. Mandy was lying on the ground, doubled over, blood seeping out of her stomach. Students around her were screaming for teachers, but Raven couldn't hear them - it was all becoming a blur. _

_She immediately ran up to Mandy to hear what she was saying to Abby, for her mind could think of nothing else to do._

"_I can't help what I see, Abby, I wouldn't be able to bear watching you die whilst fully knowing there was something I could do about it..." Mandy trailed off, weakly._

_**Fallen angels at my feet**_

_**Whispered voices at my ear**_

_**Death before my eyes**_

_**Lying next to me I fear**_

_**She beckons me, shall I give in...**_

_**Upon my end shall I begin**_

Forsaking all I've fallen for I rise to meet the end 

"_See it? What do you mean by you can't help what you see?" Abby asked, frustrated. _

_Raven was as confused and frustrated as Abby was, that is until she replayed the most recent events in her mind._

"_Oh my god, she saw it," Raven said slowly, grasping the concept Mandy was talking of._

"_Yes, that's what she just said! But, what does it mean?" Abby asked, exasperated, looking from Mandy to Raven._

"_She saw it," Raven replied, hurriedly, "She saw it! That's what was wrong with her... a-and she reenacted it - the whole thing physically too... Oh my god, she knew it was going to happen." _

_It was all clicking into place for Raven, but Abby still didn't get any of it._

"_What are you babbling on about?" Abby asked, completely lost._

"_Mandy," Raven began slowly, obviously trying to prove that she knew more than Abby, (to which, Abby rolled her eyes.) "Well," Raven shrugged, "She had a premonition, she saw it...." Raven said, tapping her finer on her temple, nodding with a smug look on her face._

As odd as it was for that memory to begin fading out at that moment, it did. The memory faded out, leaving Ron to wonder what that loud sound was and why it did that to Mandy, and Hermione and Harry to try and absorb what they just saw.

Then, to the trio's disbelief, the screen rolled itself up and disappeared into the air; apparently, it was done showing them Mandy's memories. This sudden exit on the screen's part gave them ample time to discuss not only the previous memory they had been show, but all the memories they had seen in general. Yet, since they had not yet had the chance to talk about the previous memory shown to them, they were first concerned with that.

"What was that sound before, and why did it hurt Mandy like that?" Ron asked, completely baffled.

For once, unlike all the other questions that needed answering, Dumbledore did not answer, but instead, Harry did.

"Well, it's called a gun, Ron," he explained, "and from it come these things called bullets that travel at a really fast speed through the air, and then the bullet travels in that direction in which the gun was aimed, and can pierce through skin and damage the person for life, even kill them," Harry said, almost all in one breath.

"Oh," said Ron, a little shocked that Harry had answered so fast.

"She's really a Seer, then?" Hermione asked, curiously.

"Yes," Dumbledore replied, contently.

"They actually exist?" asked Ron, being caught completely off guard. After all those lessons with Professor Trelawney, he was beginning to think that the whole idea of Seers existing was a hoax.

Dumbledore chuckled heartily in response to Ron's sudden show of disbelief.

"Of course they exist, Ron!" Hermione exclaimed, exasperated with him.

"Dumbledore," Harry began.

"Yes, Harry?" Dumbledore responded, now glancing towards Harry.

"Well," Harry said, slowly, "Mandy has been getting all this trouble just from her prophecy, what prophecy could be so important that it could cause her this much trouble? I mean, what is her prophecy?"

Dumbledore lost the glimmer in his eyes after Harry had asked that question that obviously held an important value, and his complete expression changed from being content to be completely wearisome and worn down.

"Although her prophecy is important Harry," he replied, "I should not be the one to tell you of this prophecy, it should be the one who holds it. I'm sorry."

Harry nodded back, to show he understood, but in all honestly, his patience almost got the better of him. Throughout watching the memories, there were numerous references to her prophecy, but none of them actually told what it was. He would've thought that if she were honestly showing them her most important memories, the one where she found out exactly what her prophecy was would have come up. Maybe, he thought, she didn't want them to know, but why? What could be holding her back from telling them? Didn't she know he had one too? He hated the fact that he was so curious, and wished more then ever that he knew what Mandy's prophecy was, because he knew that until he found out what it was, it would bother him.

"Well, I have a question," Hermione stated very bluntly.

"Then please, ask away, Miss Granger." Dumbledore said politely, regaining his warm smile and cheerful disposition.

"Why is she an Auror? How could she be an Auror? She's so...." She began, trailing off.

"Young?" Dumbledore asked, rhetorically. "Yes, quite young to be an Auror, just as to be in the Order, but powerful, and prepared," he paused, "and although the Ministry did not wish for her to become an Auror any more than her trainer, it was actually them that helped her become one."

Hermione threw him a rare quizzical look before he continued on.

"You see," he said, "as I told you before, when she was younger, the Ministry found out of the magnificent powers she had to develop and the prophecy attached to her name. So naturally, they immediately sent someone to teach her - to teach her everything, from the basics in magic, to harnessing her magical powers, to creating herself to become physically fit - all to improve her power; she was a gold mine to them." He then paused briefly again before continuing. "As she grew older, she grew much more advanced - more advanced than the teacher even," Dumbledore chuckled.

"One time she got so mad at him, well she couldn't help her feelings - she was only 11 - committed a horrible crime - the Cruciatius Curse, which although it's known that it causes a lot of pain at least temporarily, it almost caused the death of her trainer."

Harry was shocked at two things in the previous statement made by Dumbledore; firstly, he wondered why Dumbledore was laughing about the matter, and secondly, he was confused how the Cruciatius Curse could have so much power - he thought it just made people go insane after a while.

Dumbledore continued, "But of course the Ministry couldn't punish her, because they were the ones who had trained her in the first place!"

With that explanation, Harry could know understand what Dumbledore had found so amusing about that crime. Harry had to admit that he too, found that very amusing, although he didn't say it aloud.

Dumbledore chuckled a bit more, and then continued, "As I was saying... She was growing older, and wished to become an Auror - she had figured that as long as she was doing all this training that she might as well take the test, even against her teacher's will. So, the Ministry being incapable of denying her of the testing, considering they had been training her and she had technically known all the things required, passed her, and thus became the youngest Auror they ever possessed."

"Ironic," Hermione stated, slightly bemused at this as well.

"Yes," Ron agreed, "I wonder why she rebels against the Ministry so much," he thought aloud.

"Actually," Dumbledore said lightly, "she doesn't support many of the things the Ministry does, so it doesn't bother her much to bend their rules to be in her favor," he concluded with a smile.

"Wish I could do the same," Harry muttered underneath his breath, so no one could hear him.

"Well, although I'm sure you three have many more questions you wish to be asking me, I think it is time you should be returning to your Common Room to go to sleep," Dumbledore said, in the form of a command.

So, reluctantly, the three began to leave Dumbledore's office and head off to their own Common Room for the night.

"So... what do you reckon of this Mandy girl?" Ron inquired.

"There's still something hidden about her, I think, I don't know... Something about her just doesn't seem right, or complete even," Hermione said, pondering to herself about it at the same time she was saying it aloud. "What do you think about her, Harry?"

Harry had not heard a word of the conversation going on between Ron and Hermione; he himself was engrossed deeply in his thoughts about this strange appearance of this new girl, and about the new girl in general. Why all of a sudden was she coming to Hogwarts when all these years she had been doing fine alone with her trainer? Why not come at the regular time, during the beginning of the year? What was her prophecy after all, and why was she so important to Voldemort? And what made her... Hermione, who was trying to get Harry's attention, had cut off his thoughts.

"Harry? Harry! You there?"

"What - uh, oh yeah, sorry."

"It's alright, what's on your mind?" Hermione asked, concerned.

"Oh nothing, just thinking. Hey, is that...?" Harry trailed off quizzically, looking ahead in the corridor.

Harry was looking down the corridor, noticing a person who looked quite familiar to him, walking down towards the Gryffindor Common Room.

"It is!" He exclaimed, in some form of triumph.

"What are you talking about, mate?" Ron asked, his right eyebrow raised.

"Mandy!" Harry called out, running towards her, trying to catch up with her. "Mandy!"

Mandy was walking down the corridor towards the Gryffindor Common Room, now containing the list of homework and class-work she needed to make up from the beginning of the year that she had received from Professor McGonagall.

All of a sudden, she began to feel a bit weak, and she was losing strength rapidly. She had just heard someone calling her name in the background, but she couldn't make out who it was, everything around her was blurring to make one again. She was trying to pull herself together, trying to avoid what was about to happen, and attempted to steady herself.

"No, no, this wasn't supposed to happen again, I was supposed to be protected from this... No..." She said, muttering to herself.

That's it, everything was fading away from her vision, and words were seemingly lost in thin air while attempting to reach her; everything was going black again. She had no strength left in her to continue walking; she just fainted, she couldn't help her responses any more, she had no control.


	11. Bandages and Sore Spots

Harry was running up to Mandy, when all of a sudden she was mumbling something, and just.... collapsed. At first, he figured that she was having another premonition, but she wasn't moving the slightest bit; she remained motionless on the floor. Wasn't she in pain last time she had a premonition? Yet, she wasn't showing any signs of well - anything, now. This couldn't be good. Luckily, Ron and Hermione were not far behind him; Hermione would know what to do.

"Ron! Hermione! Hurry!" He called back to them.

Moments later, Ron and Hermione arrived, but were less concerned then Harry.

"I'm sure it's just another premonition," Ron said, conclusively.

"Hmm... Possibly, but maybe we should go get Dumbledore just in case," Hermione replied, determining what would be the probable solution to this problem in her head.

"I don't think it's just another premonition, Ron, I mean she's been out for the last five minutes, she hasn't moved or anything. She would've at least moved by now; most likely she would've woken up," Harry said, uneasily.

"Harry's right," Hermione said firmly, "Listen, Ron, go back and get Dumbledore. We'll stay here with Mandy."

"But," Ron started in protest, "we don't even know. Besides, we are supposed to be going back to the Common Room!"

Hermione looked at Ron lamely. "We both know that you are just unsure of whether or not to trust this new girl, as are we all. Honestly though, that doesn't mean we shouldn't help her."

Ron sighed; he knew there was no fighting Hermione. So, reluctantly, he went off in search of Dumbledore to help Mandy.

"Now, Harry, you have to tell me exactly what you saw... considering, well, I really didn't see anything that happened," Hermione instructed.

"Well, er... uh..." Harry was quite caught off guard in this situation. "I don't know, it was really weird, she just kind of mumbled some words and collapsed."

"Hmm..." Hermione said, concentrating hard upon the ground where Mandy lay.

Harry wished that Dumbledore would come soon, because apparently Hermione had no more idea of what happened than he did, although she liked to think she did.

Eventually, after five more minutes of waiting, and Mandy still not moving the slightest bit, Professor McGonagall, Dumbledore, and Ron appeared on the scene.

"Hermione, Harry, what happened here?" Dumbledore asked, with a slight sense of urgency.

"Well," Hermione began, "after we left your office, we began to go back to the Common Room like you said, when Harry noticed that Mandy was only slightly down the corridor herself, and went to go talk to her. Then, according to him, she suddenly mumbled something and just, well, collapsed."

"I see," Dumbledore replied, a sense of emergency flickering in his eyes. "Professor McGonagall, I need you to go get Madam Pomfrey immediately. Tell her that a student has fallen unconscious in the corridors." Professor McGonagall nodded to Dumbledore, and then fled in a mission to go find Madam Pomfrey.

"As for you three," he said, turning towards the trio, "you should be going back to your dormitories, this is not of your concern."

The three nodded back, and started off to their Common Room although they wished they could follow Dumbledore.

"Harry, did you hear _anything_ that she was saying?" Hermione asked curiously.

"No," Harry said, slightly disappointed, "I was too far away at the time."

There was an awkward silence; they each seemed to be thinking their own thoughts on what to do.

"So Harry..." Ron said, breaking the silence.

"Yeah?" Harry asked.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking right about now?" Ron asked.

"Probably," Harry responded, "does it involve a certain gift from my father?"

"How'd you know?" Ron asked in mock surprise.

Hermione turned around to face them. "Oh guys! You are not going to..."

"Who says we aren't?" Ron interrupted her, slightly defensive.

"You would be breaking the rules!" she cried shrilly.

"Hermione! We have broken so many rules so far, I don't think one more would make a difference!" Ron exclaimed.

"Fine," she huffed disgustedly, angry at being defeated.

"And you promise you won't tell?" Ron asked hopefully.

"Not as long as you promise to start acting more like a Prefect," she said, aggravated.

"Thanks 'Mione!" Ron said happily, quickly kissing her on the cheek.

Harry couldn't believe what he just saw; he stood there with his feet glued to the floor, his mouth open in shock. He looked towards Hermione and saw that she was doing the exact same thing.

Being lost in the moment, Ron didn't realize what he just did; that is, until he looked from Harry to Hermione. All the color in his face had drained, and he remained there mimicking the other two's expressions. "I... I..." he began to stutter. "I... I..." he tried again without getting very far; he darted off to the Common Room being completely embarrassed of what he just did.

Ron had left Harry and Hermione in an awkward position, both confused on what had just happened and why.

"So..." Harry said, trying to shake off the shock, "I think I should um... you know... go after him.... uh... bye."

Harry quickly dashed off to follow Ron to the boys' dormitories, leaving Hermione still standing there, completely shocked.

When Harry got to the Common Room, he found Ron sitting on the Gryffindor couch with the blankest of expressions. He was gaping, it was as if he was about to say something, but the words couldn't come out.

"Took you long enough," Harry said, slightly out of breath.

"W-what?" Ron stammered.

"Took you long enough," Harry repeated, "but come on... we need to go see what happened. I'll go get the Invisibility Cloak and be back in a minute."

He ran up to his dormitory, pulled out a trunk from underneath his bed, and grabbed the Invisibility Cloak. When he got back down to the Common Room, he found Ron in the same position he had left him, and let out a cry of exasperation.

"Ron," he said, slightly annoyed, "come on, we have to go, we don't have much time before they leave."

Without a word, Ron got up, and just followed Harry out of the portrait and into the corridors.

Luckily enough, they had not encountered any problems on their journey to Madam Pomfrey's office, although they had come quite close. Peeves had just happened to be strolling the same corridors Harry and Ron were using that night; they would've gone a different way, but that's where they left Hermione, and well, Harry didn't think it was a good idea to pass by her with Ron. So, they went a separate way, and ended up almost being the victim of Peeves.

Harry and Ron were walking down the corridors, when all of a sudden, Ron tripped on one of the edges of the cloak and in return not only let the cloak slip off them for a bit, but also dropped his wand. If the sound didn't make things bad, the fact that Peeves was around the corner made things even worse. Peeves, hearing the sound, had coming whizzing around the corner, hoping to find his prey. Harry on the other hand, thinking quickly, picked up Ron's wand and his Invisibility Cloak and dashed into the nearest classroom.

Fortunately, he had gotten in there just in the nick of time. Unfortunately, this didn't stop Peeves from being suspicious about one of the nearest classroom doors slamming. By the time Peeves had floated into the classroom that Harry and Ron were staying in, Harry had already had the Invisibility Cloak safely over them. Peeves began to soar all around the classroom, calling out taunts.

"Oooooh, naughty, naughty little students we are," Peeves cried gleefully, "who is hiding from Peeves?"

He continued to search all over the area, getting closer and closer to Harry and Ron.

"Come out, come out, wherever you are you naughty little students... Peevesey will find you eventually," he cackled. He grinned and continued to sweep over the area.

"Oooooh, naughty, naughty little students we are," Peeves repeated, "I will be back for you... I will be waiting." With those last threats, Peeves swept out of the classroom, and back into the corridors.

After about five minutes of waiting to make sure Peeves had really left, Ron took the chance to talk again.

"Phew, mate," Ron said, "That was close!"

"Yes, it was," Harry responded, "If you don't stop growing, I'm going to start taking these trips with the Invisibility Cloak by myself."

Ron looked at Harry as if he wouldn't dare, and then after looking at Harry's stern face, he began to curse his height underneath his breath.

After that, they did not get in any further trouble, for Harry and Ron had finally arrived at Madam Pomfrey's office, and just in time as well.

They silently opened the door, crept inside, and hid in the corner so they wouldn't be in anybody's way. They stood there as silent as they could, and strained to listen to the conversation going on between Dumbledore, Madam Pomfrey, and Professor McGonagall.

"So what's the prognosis for Mandy?" Dumbledore asked Madam Pomfrey solemnly.

"Well," Madam Pomfrey sighed, "from what I can tell - I believe she is in a coma."

Harry's face went wan, his mouth opened in shock, and he began to slip to the ground involuntarily. Ron felt Harry slowly sliding to the ground, and immediately gripped his arm to hold him up. Ron cast Harry a worried look, and put his finger on his lips to indicate Harry should be quiet.

Dumbledore sighed. "I was afraid that the walls of Hogwarts wouldn't be enough to protect Mandy, we'll just have to hope she overcomes this."

"Do you mean..." Professor McGonagall trailed off, staring anxiously at Mandy and then at Dumbledore.

"Yes, Minerva," Dumbledore looked at Mandy, "Mandy has the chance to survive as any other witch or wizard does now; her fate depends upon the strength of her mind. Even her training could not have prepared her for this."

Professor McGonagall looked somberly at Mandy. "Shame," she announced, "she's been here for only one day and has already fallen ill."

"You are aware what this means, Minerva?"

"Yes," she replied gravely, "I do."

The infirmary echoed the awkward silence that came, and alongside Madam Pomfrey, persuaded Dumbledore and McGonagall to leave.

Although the teachers had left, and Madam Pomfrey had gone inside her actual office, Harry and Ron remained where they were - still underneath the Invisibility Cloak.

Ron finally let go of Harry's arm, letting him slide down to the floor. "What was all that about, mate?" Ron asked, looking at Harry who was now sitting on the floor with his legs against his chest, and his face in his hands. "Mate, you ok?"

"Yeah," Harry muttered from beneath his hands, "fine. I just didn't think - I didn't think it would be this serious."

"Yeah, I guess," Ron replied, giving Harry a weird look. "Come on, we should get going back to the Common Room to tell Her - Herm - Her..."

Harry laughed weakly, and pulled himself back up to his feet. "Hermione."

"Yeah," Ron said, wearing an anxious expression, "her."

On their way back, they did not encounter anything that might cause them even a smidge of trouble. Fortunately enough, there was no encounter with Peeves either.

Nevertheless, there was still a slight delay from going into the portrait hole when they got there. Ron had suddenly lost all of his nerve outside the Fat Lady, and refused to go in.

"Um... Harry? You know what... I think... I think I'll stay out here for awhile," Ron said in a high-pitched voice, "all right? And you... you'll be a good mate and tell me when she leaves? Okay? Thanks."

"Ron," Harry replied, "stop being ridiculous. Besides, if you stay out here all night you will get caught by the teachers, or Filch, or somebody."

"Hmm... You're right," Ron said, "if I'm going to be out here all night I will get in trouble, won't I?" He paused. "So Harry, could you be a good mate and lend me the Invisibility Cloak for the night?"

"Ron!" Harry exclaimed, "You can't run away from her forever!"

"I could at least try, couldn't I?" Ron asked hopefully.

"Come on now, Ron, be serious," Harry said.

"I am," Ron replied, "I'm being quite serious."

Honestly, Ron would've stayed out there just as he said he would too. The only thing that changed his plans was when Harry threw him a dirty look, one of which gave him enough convincing to go inside.

Harry was the first one to walk in; as proven by the display outside, Ron wasn't feeling all that confident at the moment. From behind Harry, Ron quickly dashed to the nearest chair and picked up a random book to hide his face. Harry rolled his eyes. Just as expected, Hermione was to be found on the Gryffindor couch waiting for them. She stared tentatively over to the corner Ron was sitting in, wearing a conflicted face. Harry had wanted to tell Hermione what had happened, figuring that like always, she would have some sort of solution of explanation, but the moment was just too awkward.

"Ron..." Hermione said softly. She got up and began to walk over to the corner Ron was in, but it was to no avail, because the minute she got up, he ran straight away to the boy's dormitories. "Oh dear," she said, with a hint of sadness in her voice. She turned around to face Harry, looking down, wearing the same facial expression she wore when she had said 'Oh dear,' or so Harry presumed. Her eyes were swimming with tears, and she was wearing one of the most melancholy faces Harry had ever seen. "I think I'm going to go to bed," Hermione mumbled to Harry as she began to drag herself up the stairs, and into the girls' dormitories.

After Hermione left, Harry decided that it'd be best to just sleep in the Common Room for the night - he didn't want to have to deal with Ron just yet. He wished he could've talked to Hermione though, she almost always knew what to do. Yet again, he had a feeling he would have to figure this one out alone. Ron and Hermione would be preoccupied ignoring each other for a while, or at least Ron would, so naturally he wouldn't really get to talk to either of them. What made the situation even worse though was that he didn't really even know this girl, so he couldn't even really guess what made her collapse like that. Today was so strange, and it seemed to drag on forever.

Just in one day, Hogwarts had received a new student in October, a 6th year nonetheless, and in the same day, and he and his friends had found all about her, more than you would anyone else in one day, and then this same girl collapsed for mysterious reasons.

'_There is something about her that she is hiding,'_ Harry thought.

There just had to be more then meets the eye. Honestly, no one just lets another person into their past as easily as she did; there just had to be something important she held back. He also couldn't help but think that these something's that she was holding back was what made her so mysterious, yet enchanting. That night, he lastly figured out that these something's would get them in a lot of trouble (like that was anything new and different,) but at the same time, make it all the worthwhile. The only way he was ever going to solve this problem was by talking to the source itself, which was, unfortunately unconscious. He really just wanted to talk to her, alone, for more reasons than one.


	12. Devil's Snare

The next morning Harry woke up uncharacteristically early, but then again, he did have a lot on his mind. With all the things that were happening around here lately, he had almost forgotten that he did in fact have classes that day. He quickly got up, unsure of exactly what time it was, and then realized that although he really didn't want to go into the boy's dormitories, he would have to - his books were there. So, reluctantly, he went up the staircase to the boys' dormitories, and went up to where his room was to gather his books. When he got there though, he was surprised enough to see that Ron had already left. Maybe Harry's insomnia was spreading, but he doubted that. He wondered where Ron could've gone, especially since they had classes today, so you really couldn't go out wandering corridors if you had a class to get to.

It didn't matter; he knew Ron would show up to their Herbology and Care of Magical Creatures lessons anyway. He'd talk to him then. In the meantime, Harry had decided that he might as well get started off to his Herbology class. Although he was still 30 minutes early, he really had nothing else to do.

On the way there, Harry had happened to pass the Owlery and notice that Hermione was sending off a letter to someone. He paused for a moment, wondering whom she could be sending a letter to. Hermione didn't send letters to people very often, and when she did, it usually had some importance.

"Hey," Harry called out, "Hermione!"

"Oh, what?" Hermione seemed to be caught off guard, apparently she didn't expect anyone else to be using the Owlery at this time in the morning. "Oh, it's you. Hey, Harry."

Harry looked at Hermione and noticed that her hair was messier than normal, and in general, it didn't look like she had gotten much sleep.

"Are you okay?" he asked, concerned, "You look tired."

"Oh, no, I'm - I'm fine," Hermione responded unenthusiastically, and yawned. "I - I just had some more work to catch up on last night."

Harry didn't believe one word of it, but decided to drop the subject because she obviously didn't want to talk to him about it. "So who were you sending the letter to?"

"Oh, that? I was just sending that to - to my mum and dad. You know how they are, they like to be updated on these things."

"Yeah," Harry agreed, although he didn't really know how parents were.

There was an awkward pause between the two, for neither knew how to approach the situation that had finally surfaced after years of hiding.

"So... How's Ron?" Hermione asked with a sense of concern.

"I wouldn't know," Harry stated indifferently, he knew there was really nothing to worry about. Hermione always had to talk things through, and Ron always avoided directly addressing the problem, well, unless he had to. He figured that they'd eventually had to talk, nobody could run forever - especially when you see the person you are running away from everyday.

"What do you mean?" Hermione asked urgently.

"Well, see, after you both left, I kinda decided to just sleep in the Common Room instead of going upstairs and talking to Ron because...."

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU DECIDED NOT TO TALK TO RON?!?! WHAT KIND OF A FRIEND ARE YOU?" Hermione cut him off, angrily. She slapped him upside the head.

"Ow!" Harry exclaimed. He had to admit he didn't see that one coming. He hoped this would end soon, he didn't want to even imagine the possibility of how many more times Hermione could smack him until then.

"Boys!" she muttered angrily, walking away in a huff.

Harry watched Hermione walk away angry, rubbing the back of his head. This was going to be long and annoying if they didn't patch things up soon.

Luckily enough, by the time Harry got to the greenhouse for Herbology, it was time for their class to start.

"Today," began a cheerful Professor Sprout, "we will be learning about Devil's Snare and how to protect ourselves from it. Now, who can tell me the properties of Devil's Snare?"

Harry began to faze her out, he had learned about Devil's Snare in his first year when he fought the infamous Voldemort. It's funny how the rest of the students were learning about Devil's Snare now, when he had learned about it five years ago. Sure, he was under different circumstances than the rest of them at that time, but even then Devil's Snare didn't seem that difficult. Well, once Hermione told them that is, and Hermione was always advanced. So, he supposed that he really never would've learned about it till now like the rest of them.

"All right now, I have brought in a bit of Devil's Snare to work with so you could practice preparing yourselves. Please set yourself up in groups of three, and I will bring over some Devil's Snare to each of you."

As usual, Harry, Ron, and Hermione became a group of three. Although Ron was quite reluctant to at first, Hermione got him to eventually.

"Ron!" Hermione called out, "Come on!"

Ron, wearing a very pale face, shook his head 'no' like a little child would, and began to inch away from Harry who was in-between the two.

"Ron," Hermione said exasperatedly, "stop being so ridiculous! Come on!"

He shook his head 'no' again, and began to walk around the table, away from Hermione. Except this time, Hermione began to go after him. He then started to go into a sprint around the table, and just as before, Hermione ran after him. He noticed this and paused, as did she. He would begin to run one way, and she would begin to run the exact same way. Harry had to admit, it was quite amusing to see the spectacle they were putting on. More and more of the class began to notice what was happening, and stopped to watch out of sheer interest and amusement as well.

It really didn't matter how much time they had wasted, they had already practiced with Devil's Snare before. Well, at least the trio had.

Eventually, Ron thinking he threw off Hermione, began to run around the table in one direction. Unfortunately for him though, Hermione wasn't thrown off, and wasn't that slow of a runner. She caught up to him in a matter of minutes, and clutched his arm so he couldn't run away any further.

Ron cursed underneath his breath.

"Hah," Hermione said triumphantly, "now you have to talk to me."

"That's what I was afraid of," Ron mumbled, still not daring to face Hermione.

Hermione then began to drag Ron away to a corner of the Greenhouse so they could talk in private. Shame, Harry would've liked to see how that conversation went. All the same, he had a feeling he knew how it would end.

As Ron was being pulled away, he turned around to look at Harry with a face of utmost horror. That facial expression looked oddly familiar to the one Ron had put on with their encounter of the Acromantula they had in their second year. The fact though that Ron was as afraid of Hermione as he was a herd of giant spiders was amusing. Harry admitted that although sometimes Hermione could be a bit scary, he didn't think that she was a bad as a wild herd of human-eating spiders.

Harry watched Ron and Hermione return moments later, both extremely quiet, both seemingly distracted by the ground. This couldn't be good.

"So...?" Harry asked when Ron returned back to his seat next to him.

"Friends," Ron mumbled, "I- I mean, not like I expected any more." He blushed deeply as he continued to stare at the table.

Harry, slightly shocked, and extremely puzzled, stared at Hermione, who was blushing just as deeply, and had let her hair fall down over her face. She seemed to be writing something on a scroll of parchment; what exactly, Harry didn't know.

He couldn't believe they would continue on like this after so many years of doing so, surely one of them must've -. Well, if they chose to ignore it, he would too. He had other things occupying his mind anyway. Although it was not his first concern, he did have to get the Devil's Snare back to Professor Sprout because it seemed as if no one else out of the trio would. Hermione was too busy writing whatever she was writing, and Ron was fixedly staring at the ground. These seemed to be the top priorities of the two at the moment. Eventually though, they would have to move, and perhaps even talk to each other. Harry knew this, and most likely so did the other two; all of them, though, were trying to avoid this, thus intensifying the awkward moment. So, Harry was grateful to find an excuse to get out of the circumstance.

"I'm going to go bring the Devil's Snare back to Professor Sprout," Harry declared as he got up and started to walk towards Professor Sprout's direction.

Hermione nodded her head furiously in response, and Ron - well, he still managed to find something interesting out of staring at the ground.

He then dropped off the Devil's Snare into the capable hands of Professor Sprout, as he said he would, and began to prepare himself for the next class, as did the slow moving Ron and Hermione, considering Herbology had finally ended for the day.

Luckily for Ron and Hermione, all they had to do was to walk across the Hogwarts grounds to go to Care of Magical Creatures. Harry was sure that Ron and Hermione would appreciate the fact that they would have less time in awkwardness from one class to the next.

Normally, one could see all three of these Gryffindors traveling together from class to class: that is, normally. Today though, each one arrived to the next class at a different time, and got there at a different rate. First to Care of Magical Creatures was Harry, then Hermione, and lastly, Ron.

Harry felt bad for Ron; he had a feeling Ron was most likely last to class because of the fact he was the one put down out of the two, and was most likely still embarrassed about the whole situation.


	13. Breaking Barriers

As Harry was the first to enter the area of which they normally have their Care of Magical Creatures class, he was the first one questioned about the awkward situation by Hagrid. Even Hagrid could tell something was going on by the way Hermione and Ron were acting around each other, and how the group as a whole was acting. Oddly though, the trio hadn't visited Hagrid since the first couple of days of their sixth year.

Apparently, they had all been so busy with what was going on, that they simply didn't have the time, or were too caught up with their current situations.

"Hey 'arry!" Hagrid called out. "How are yeh? Haven't seen yeh 'round lately."

"Erm," Harry began awkwardly, feeling guilty for not talking to Hagrid in such a long time. "Sorry about that, Hagrid, I just got, erm, I mean..."

"Ahh," Hagrid began in a forgiving tone, "s'alright, Harry, I understand, what with yer studies an' all. All that matters is that yeh're here now, righ'?" Hagrid beamed, then looked behind Harry to view the great amount of distance between Ron and Hermione as they walked to class.

"What's with 'em two? Sompthin' I should know 'bout?"

Harry chuckled nervously. "Erm, yeah, about that... they kinda had a - um..."

"Don't tell me they 'ad another fight did they, 'arry?" Hagrid asked, smiling. "Those two..."

"No," Harry said interrupting him. "It was, uh, something else."

Hagrid responded with a confused expression, and a bushy eyebrow raised in question.

"I'll tell you after class," he told Hagrid. He paused and turned towards his two best friends, and then back towards Hagrid. "And you aren't going to get it out of them either, by the way," he informed him.

Hagrid huffed impatiently. "Al'right then, after class 'arry... I have some Pumpkin Pastries I could give yerh to eat anyway - made'm myself from some of the pumpkins I grew fer Dumbledore this year!" he added in proudly.

"Great," Harry replied beaming, trying to be nice to Hagrid. Yet, if the pastries were like the rest of his cooking, it truly wouldn't be so 'great.'

Harry continued to walk into the Care of Magical Creatures grounds and join his fellow Gryffindors. Then, it hit him; Halloween was a week away. Normally, this would be an exciting occasion for Harry; it usually meant Hogsmeade and a humongous feast in the Great Hall. This year, though, it would only produce more awkwardness between Ron and Hermione, and Harry even, for not being able to take sides in this argument, especially when neither one was talking to anyone. Hermione wasn't even raising her hand to answer questions their Professors would ask, and Harry knew she knew the answer. Even the teachers were beginning to wonder what happened.

"_Miss Granger, are you feeling well? Usually you would've earned Gryffindor a good amount of points by now," Prof. McGonagall asked out of concern._

"_Sore throat," Harry responded to cover for Hermione. Hermione nodded to back up Harry's comment._

_Professor McGonagall looked from Hermione to Harry and responded: "You should best go to Madame Pomfrey then, Hermione," and continued to teach class._

So, the way Harry figured it, he'd be alone this Halloween. The new girl, Mandy, had mysteriously fallen into a coma on only her first day of arrival, and it was doubtful she'd stir awake by Halloween. Then, there was Luna, but she was, well, Luna, and quite strange. There was also the possibility of Neville, but Neville wasn't much of a person to talk to, and always seemed to be misplacing and forgetting things, and considering it was Halloween, a lot of Neville's things would most likely be misplaced. If the Weasley twins were still here, he could have at least talked to them, but they dropped out of school last year to pursue their dream of a joke shop. Wait, that was it; Weasley. There was still one Weasley left in this school besides Ron, and Harry knew he could talk to her, Ginny.

Harry continued to be absorbed in his own thoughts as he, like in the class before, was sitting in-between Ron and Hermione. From what Harry could tell, Hagrid was teaching the class about Acromantula. He wished that they could've learned about them in second year so that they could've been prepared with how to handle one of Hagrid's 'harmless' pets. But, knowing Hagrid, Harry knew that there was no way Hagrid could've possibly predicted the outcome they had endured.

As Harry was remembering all of what happened during their second year, he couldn't help but wonder what Ron was thinking about this lesson. He then looked towards Ron who happened to be as wan as the last time they had come across Acromantula. Harry could also tell that Ron was very tense because he was gripping his quill so tightly that Harry personally was afraid the quill would snap in two.

"Scared, Weasley?" Malfoy asked smugly, taunting Ron from behind. "Well then, I wouldn't stand too close to that forest behind you, you know, in case one of them decides to come out for a stroll. Perhaps, by my influence," he smirked mischievously.

"I doubt that," Harry replied, "considering you are too afraid to go into the Forbidden Forest yourself."

"Am not," Malfoy replied curtly.

"That's not what I remember from first year, unless perhaps Little Malfoy has conquered his fear of the dark by now," Harry said with a smile, "I mean, can you handle it without the assistance of Fang this time?" he continued mockingly.

"I did not need Fang," Malfoy snarled, "Someone had to take that mangy dog. Sure as hell you couldn't be trusted to take it."

"Are you telling me that you actually cared about Fang?" Harry asked skeptically. "Isn't he Hagrid's dog?"

Harry knew how Malfoy felt about bloodlines, and although Harry greatly disagreed with him on the subject, it would still be quite interesting to see how Malfoy would respond to that. In fact, Malfoy was absolutely seething at the possibility of liking any other person than a pureblood.

"Come on Crabbe, Goyle," he grumbled, "let's go. We shouldn't be talking with these blood traitors and their mudblood anyway."

"Take that back," Ron said standing up, having seemingly gained back his courage, his wand now pointed towards Malfoy.

"Take back what?" Malfoy questioned with a smirk; fully knowing what Ron meant.

"The blood traitor part, or the part where I called that disgrace to the magical community a _mudblood_?" he finished off his question, putting the most emphasis on the word mudblood.

"Take it back," Harry said, repeating Ron's movements, and pointing his wand towards Malfoy.

"Or you'll what," Malfoy sneered, "hex me?" Malfoy laughed. "If your charms skills are as good as your potions, then I shouldn't really have to worry."

"And if you were smart enough, Malfoy, you'd learn to shut your mouth," Hermione interjected, joining the argument.

"'Ey 'ey, o'er there! Break it up!" Hagrid called, stumbling towards the small group, finally taking note of the fight. "Malfoy, I should've expected as much from yeh, but I though' better of you three," he said. Malfoy sneered once again in return, and walked away from Hagrid and the trio with Crabbe and Goyle. "As fer you, Harry, I'll be seein' you after class," Hagrid said as he winked, then walked away.

"He's not honestly going to punish you for our fight, is he?" Ron asked, confused.

"Of course he isn't, Ron, don't be a prat," Hermione responded, "Harry obviously told Hagrid before class that he would talk to him later."

"Well, how was I supposed to know that?" Ron asked, outraged.

"Well, how often does Hagrid punish us?" Hermione backfired.

"There's a first for everything," Ron grumbled, completely forgetting their teacher was Hagrid.

"Well, it's good to know you two are at least back on fighting terms," Harry said loudly.

Ron and Hermione both blushed, just remembering at that moment that they were giving each other the cold shoulder. This was only to be followed by each of them cursing underneath their breath: apparently their plan for giving each other the cold shoulder didn't last very long.

The rest of the Care of Magical Creatures Lesson continued on once again in silence except for the occasional chatter.

Finally, the class ended, leaving Harry to talk to Hagrid, and forcing his two friends to walk back to the castle together.

"So, 'arry, what's bin goin' on lately?" Hagrid asked as he poured Harry a cup of tea.

"I know yeh've been busy, but what's with them two," he added hurriedly.

Harry explained the fight as best he could without mentioning the kiss, (that would be Ron and Hermione's secret to tell.)

"Well, I don' see the problem then," Hagrid said gruffly, "same as their usual fights then, right?"

"Err, yeah," Harry lied uncomfortably.

"So what do you think of that new girl?" Hagrid asked.

"What?" Harry replied, caught off-guard, almost dropping the cup of tea Hagrid had handed him just moments ago.

"Comin' in here, an' after the first day, gettin' herself in a coma."

"She's in a coma?" Harry asked in fake surprise, settling the nerves that attempted to drop his teacup.

"Shouldn't 'ave said that," Hagrid muttered.

"No tell me," Harry persisted.

"Yeh interested in her or somethin'?" Hagrid asked with a small smile, which barely showed from beneath his scruffy beard.

"Err, no, it's just... Well, it's strange, that's all. Not many 6th years enter in October," Harry replied truthfully.

"Oh that reminds me," Hagrid said, "them pumpkins will be ready for the feast soon."

Harry could tell Hagrid was avoiding the subject that he himself had brought up, but why?

"Oh, err... wow, I had almost forgotten that it was coming up," Harry said realistically.

"Forgot?" Hagrid said gruffly. "How could yeh forget? They've got yeh workin' too hard, haven't they? Forgettin' about Halloween, now that's jus' horrible."

"Yeah," Harry said, "I'd imagine that Mandy person will have a lot of work to catch up on," Harry continued in what he hoped was an offhand voice. Harry was secretly trying to bring Hagrid back on topic, for he wanted to know what else Hagrid knew.

"Nawh," Hagrid said, "she's up an' ready for learnin' today, a week shouldn't be so bad."

"She's out of her coma?" Harry asked, truly shocked this time around.

Hagrid sighed. "I really oughta learn ter shut my big mouth."

Harry didn't continue to stay any longer; he darted out of Hagrid's hut to go inform Ron and Hermione about what he had just learned.

Harry ran, not really looking at where he was going, until: "Oof."


	14. Double Vision

Harry, in his rush, had run into somebody and knocked them over.

"Oh, sorry," Harry said without looking down at who he had knocked over. "I just have somewhere really important to go."

"It's all right," the voice replied genially, as Harry continued to run, looking for Ron and Hermione.

Suddenly, it hit him; he knew who that voice had belonged to. "Mandy," he gasped, short of breath from running.

He swiveled around and ran back in the direction he had just come from.

"Sorry," he said, this time genuinely sorry, as he put out his hand so she could get up from the ground. Mandy reached out and grabbed his outstretched hand, pulling herself off the ground. She then dusted her robes off, and continued walking in the direction she was originally walking in, except this time, with Harry's accompaniment.

"So where'd you have to go?" she asked.

"Nowhere really," Harry replied. He could tell Ron and Hermione later.

"But I thought you said it was important," she laughed.

"Err, yeah," Harry said, as a blush crept up his cheeks.

"So, anyway, how much more work have I missed?" she questioned.

"Not much," Harry said truthfully, as he noticed they were heading back towards Hagrid's hut.

"Really? Oh, that's good, because I still have loads to catch up on."

"We can help you catch up. That is, if you want." Harry offered to her.

"We?" she questioned, staring at Harry. She looked at him, noting that no one else was beside him.

Harry finally took this into realization. "Oh, Hermione, Ron, and I."

"Oh," she replied, looking as if she was battling with her conscience on this one. Suddenly, a look of fear glazed over her eyes, which had lasted about a second before it had disappeared. "Okay, thanks, sounds good," she replied with a seemingly forced smile.

Mandy knocked on the door to Hagrid' hut three times, as they waited for him to come out.

"'arry, Mandy!" Hagrid exclaimed. "Harry, didn' yeh jus' leave here?" He asked, bemused. Mandy laughed again.

"Yeah," Harry replied, trying to get rid of the blush that was creeping up his cheeks again. Merlin, this was embarrassing. "But, umm, I ran into Mandy on the way out," he replied truthfully, "and she needed to..." he trailed off; he had never asked her what she wanted at Hagrid's hut, so he honestly didn't know.

"Get the homework she missed," she said, with a genuine smile, completing Harry's sentence.

"Yeah," Harry said.

"All righ', come on in and I'll write up a list fer yeh," he said in his usual gruff voice to Mandy.

Both Mandy and Harry walked inside, as Mandy seemed to be taking in her surroundings. He watched her eyes travel across the room with a show of interest. Wait, her eyes... her eyes were different. He could've sworn they were hazel, but now they were... blue? That didn't seem right.

"Mandy," Harry said speaking up. "Weren't your eyes hazel?" He asked awkwardly. He truthfully remembered them being hazel, like Ginny's eyes.

"No," she replied, seemingly confused, "they've always been blue."

'_How strange,'_ Harry thought.

"Well," Hagrid said, interrupting Harry's thoughts. "That's it, there yeh go, Mandy. It shouldn't be too much fer yeh to catch up on," he beamed.

"Thanks, Hagrid," Mandy replied calmly. "Now off to collect the rest of my homework," she said with a slight wrinkling of her nose.

Harry laughed; although the clips he had seen of her had proven to make her seem as if she was more advanced than the rest of witches and wizards of their age, she still acted the same as all of them.

Harry and Mandy walked out of Hagrid's cabin, heading back towards the castle to gather the rest of Mandy's homework as well as meet up with Ron and Hermione. On the way there, they managed to bump into a few students, most of whom seemed quite keen on finding out more about Mandy due to the odd circumstances to which she arrived, and acted. Harry had to admit that had he not learned more about Mandy from the clips, he would've thought she did act quite strange, mainly because of the way she had approached Dumbledore. The way she treated Dumbledore her first night was almost as if treating him like an equal; not something many wizards and witches did. Perhaps it wasn't treating him like an equal though, more of an old friend, who obviously couldn't have been that old of a friend with her taking her age into consideration.

Harry and Mandy remained a few feet away from the castle when they managed to bump into Harry's friend's sister, Ginny Weasley. Normally, the fact of having a female in a family would not be so much of a noticeable aspect, but Ginny was the first female in her family for several generations, making her gender much more noticeable. There was also something different about her this year that Harry simply couldn't put his finger on, something different that made her seem to stick out so much more in his mind.

He then quickly pushed these thoughts aside as he had realized just then that he had been consumed in his thoughts for too long, as shown to him by the weird looks he was receiving from Mandy and Ginny.

"Does he often get like this?" Mandy asked.

"Not really," Ginny said bemused, "he does although tend to sometimes drift off in his own thoughts when he really has something to think about."

"Well then, he must be thinking really deeply, he looks like he's in pain." Mandy and Ginny both giggled, causing Harry to blush for what to him seemed like the millionth time today.

"Oh hey," Ginny said, ceasing her giggles, "it looks like he's snapped out of him. Blushing usually is a sign of realizing you've been drifting out of reality for a bit too long, right?" Both girls laughed again, which this time caused Harry to speak up instead of blush.

"Sorry, I was going over Ron and Hermione's fight in my head," Harry replied coolly.

"Oh, well then I could see why he was in pain," Ginny commented.

Mandy laughed. "They aren't that bad, are they?"

"You'd be surprised..." Ginny trailed off, "My brother can be so stubborn sometimes."

Harry grinned, for he knew that Ron could be that way. That even in fact, Ron was that way most of the time, especially around Hermione. "I think Hermione only helps that," Harry added to the conversation.

Ginny grinned mischievously in return, "Yes, Hermione does seem to have an impact on his attitude, doesn't she?"

Ginny and Harry exchanged knowing looks and burst out laughing, almost missing Mandy's comment in the background.

"This year certainly will be interesting then..."

"Yes," Ginny responded slowly, "I should think so. Life around Hogwarts usually is quite interesting. It was much more interesting with Fred and George around though, always pulling pranks," Ginny grinned upon her fond memories. "I always did wonder though why Mum didn't kill them when she found out that they had opened their shop."

"Well," Harry said, "she couldn't do much about it, could she? They were of legal wizarding age, so they did have the right to do what they wanted with their lives."

"I suppose..." Ginny trailed off, "but that usually doesn't stop Mum." They all laughed once again; even Mandy knew how Mrs. Weasley could be from her experiences with her in the Order.

"By the way," Ginny began intently, "what's your name? I don't remember it from awhile ago when you came back."

"Oh," Harry responded for her, "this is Mandy."

Both Ginny and Mandy gave Harry interested looks.

"What?" Harry responded.

"I'm sorry, did she just have temporary amnesia I wasn't aware of, and you had to remind her of her own name?" Ginny asked.

"Oh," Harry said. He had been feeling very stupid today; he couldn't believe he had just done that. Why did he answer for Mandy anyway?

"Well, anyway," Ginny said, waving off Harry's interjection. "Haven't I seen you somewhere before?" Ginny once again looked at Mandy intently, as if scanning her for some sort of identity or label she would recognize.

"No," replied Mandy, putting on a face of confusion, "I don't believe we've ever met before."

"Hmm, I swear you look familiar," Ginny said. "Oh well, maybe not."

Harry immediately made a connection with what Ginny had said. He thought that just maybe Ginny had seen Mandy at one of the Order meetings on her way out. This would provide Ginny only a glance of her, and not necessarily create a perfect memory of who Mandy was. Harry thought it was highly possible considering he was not at 12 Grimmauld Place all of his 5th year summer, and surely there had been a considerable amount of Order meetings while he was still at the Dursley's then. He couldn't say the same for the summer before this year though. Last summer, he had only managed one week at the Dursley's before the Order came to pick him up immediately due to the 'threatening' circumstances, and brought him to Grimmauld Place.

"So what are you guys doing?" Ginny asked, bringing Harry's mind back into the conversation.

"Oh, just collecting the rest of the homework I missed," Mandy responded indifferently.

"That's right, you have all that work to make up." Ginny paused, "What did happen to you by the way? I heard you were sent to the hospital wing the night of your arrival?"

"To be honest," Mandy replied, "I don't remember. It all seems such a blur. One moment I was walking down the corridor on my way to the Gryffindor Common Room, the next moment, I woke up in the Hospital Wing."

Ginny frowned, "That is strange."

If that's all Mandy truly remembered, then maybe she was experiencing what he had experienced all the time, visions. Harry often wished he didn't have his scar, which became a connection of emotions and visions between him and Voldemort. Every time he had a vision, or received an emotion from Voldemort, a painful shock would occur, causing him to quickly clasp his hand over his forehead. He hated those visions, but there were times when they did come in handy. Now that Harry thought about it, it would've made sense; her having visions, because from what he could remember, she was a Seer. Although he did highly doubt the powers of a Seer ever since Professor Trelawney started teaching, he couldn't deny that they didn't exist. Even he had to admit that on the rare occasion, his overdramatic Divination teacher did make a correct prophecy, he himself witnessing one of them. So maybe, just maybe, real Seers were left in the world, and maybe Mandy had another vision. The only thing he didn't understand was why he would've been that powerful as to knock her out and put her in a coma for a week.

Harry groaned aloud; he had just remembered something. "I have Occlumens lessons tonight."

Ginny looked at him sympathetically, "I would hate to have my mind attacked over and over again, too. It's even worse that Snape is teaching it to you."

Mandy sympathized as well. "That must be dreadful. Well, on the bright side, once you get better at it, it works in reverse effect," she smiled mischievously.

"How do you know?" Ginny asked her curiously.

"Oh," Mandy smiled, "Let's just say that the Sorting Hat _greatly _considered putting me into Ravenclaw for awhile when I was up there."

Ginny laughed, "You and Hermione both then."

Ginny then quickly glanced at her watch, and realized that she should be heading off to class. She quickly said goodbye, and rushed off to class for understandable reasons. Fifth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry was one of the hardest due to the O.W.L.'s, which Harry remembered well.

"So," Harry said, "tell me about this reverse effect thing."

Mandy laughed and smiled, and then told him everything she knew about Occlumency.


	15. Invaders of Comfort

Harry came back from his Occlumency lessons with Snape later that night with his scar prickling profusely. Of course throughout the course of his lifetime, it had done so very often, and so by now Harry was accustomed to it. He then walked up the stairs and into the Gryffindor Common Room to find Ron and Hermione, shockingly enough, working peacefully on their homework in the same room.

"How bad was it?" Ron questioned, without looking up from his parchment.

"The usual," Harry grumbled in reply. He did not want to tell Ron the other memories Professor Snape got to scan through whilst consistently breaking into his mind. Snape had seen things ranging from his escape from the Dursley household in his second year up to the battle between Bellatrix and Sirius last year, which had caused Sirius to fall through the veil. Harry still couldn't help but blame himself for that event, and still held the two-way mirror like a priceless possession. It was, after all, all he really had left from Sirius; the house had been given to Dumbledore and The Order so that they could continue pursuing their activities there.

In this lesson, like his other most unsuccessful lessons from last year, he managed to collapse several times, leaving him very weary. He had apparently also shouted very loudly – to Sirius, in which Snape chided 'He's gone, you foolish boy. Now, get off of the floor, and let's begin again. You must start practicing!' Luckily, Harry still seemed to not have full conscious control over his actions, and had, in the midst of having his mind attacked by Snape, managed to perform a few memorable hexes, curses, and charms. Yet, as Harry grinned upon this recent memory, he was quickly brought back to reality by Hermione, who attempted at bringing the conversation back to a more cheerful note.

"So, are you going to Hogsmeade then, next week, Harry?"

Unfortunately, Harry had lost Sirius as a guardian, and thus the piece of parchment he had given to Dumbledore after the end of the 3rd year had lost its validity. Needless to say, the Durselys were still bent as ever on avoiding the topic of magic the one week he was there, and thus, he had never gotten his permission slip signed. Not that that situation would've stopped him of course, he still had his invisibility cloak with which without he would most certainly have gotten a lot more detentions, and possibly even have faced expulsion by now.

"Next week?" Harry questioned, suddenly realizing the date, "But Halloween is this week? Isn't it?"

"Well," Hermione replied in her typical know-it-all voice, "I think Filch is trying to prevent the annual pranks that usually come with this time of year. Besides that, Fred and George have just opened their shop, so I think that he is just taking extra precautions."

"I don't think that will matter," Harry replied bluntly.

"Nor do I," Hermione said, dipping her quill back into its inkpot.

"So, how long do you reckon it will take you both to catch up on your homework?" Harry asked, slightly amused.

Ron glared at him, "Longer if you keep interrupting me."

Hermione, who happened to be seated near Ron, glanced towards Ron and snorted. "Oh please, Ron, I happen to know that you have been staring at that same page for the last 30 minutes."

"Well, for your information," Ron said heatedly, "it's only been taking me this long because you keep interrupting to correct me!"

"Well, maybe I wouldn't have to correct you," Hermione responded, "if you had actually paid attention in class."

"Actually, Hermione," Harry began.

"You, yourself aren't any better, Harry!" Hermione said irritably.

"What'd you interrupt Harry for?" Ron said, his voice rising, "He was just trying to tell you something."

"Well, he was interrupting our conversation!" Hermione said shrilly.

"What conversation?" Ron yelled back. "All I hear is a bickering girl falsely accusing me of not paying attention!"

Hermione looked as if she had just been slapped in the face and quickly replied. "Well then, this bickering girl is not going to bother you with correcting your homework anymore." She slammed her books shut, gathered her backpack, and headed up towards the girl's dormitories muttering: "I hope you get a D. You would deserve it for not paying attention."

Ron shut his books loudly once Hermione had entered the girl's dormitories, and pounded his fist on the table. "The only reason I 'wasn't paying attention' was because of you," he muttered in a voice only Harry, who moments ago had been standing between Ron and Hermione, could hear.

"So," Ron said, now speaking in his normal tone of voice, "are you going up to the boy's dormitories as well, Harry?"

Harry, who was utterly confused at how two people could argue so much, merely replied, "Uh, yeah. Let's go to bed, I'm a bit tired anyway."

The next morning, Harry woke up extremely early, most likely due to the lack of sleep he had been getting this year anyway. Oddly enough, Ron was up too, pacing across their dormitory, apparently so deep in thought he did not even notice Harry watching him do so.

"Ron, Ron!" Harry shouted, attempting to finally get Ron's attention.

"Huh, what?" Ron jumped, shaking off his trance.

"What were you thinking about, mate?" Harry asked concernedly.

"Err, nothing," Ron said, rubbing the back of his neck. "What time is it?"

Harry took a quick glance at his clock and replied, "It's about 6:30, why?"

"I'm hungry, I really wanted to go down to the Great Hall," Ron replied truthfully.

Harry laughed. "Well then, we have two options."

Ron raised an eyebrow at his remark, telling him to go on.

"One," Harry grinned, "we could sit here and wait about another 30 minutes at least for breakfast to be ready. Two, we could take a walk down to the kitchens. It's up to you to decide of course."

"Kitchens, definitely the kitchens," Ron replied with an eager grin.

When Ron and Harry were still in the kitchens an hour later, they were quite stuffed, and in no mood whatsoever to go to the Great Hall. Yet, they realized that if they didn't go, some people might get suspicious or wonder where they were. After all, Ron was never known to pass up a meal.

So, Harry and Ron quickly left the kitchens in an attempt to not appear too late to breakfast and to also avoid the mass of house elves that seemed to be giving them an endless supply of food.

When the pair of them finally made it into the Great Hall, they found it to be filled with elaborate decorations. It seemed that both of them had forgotten that today, in fact, was Halloween. As Harry was making his way to his seat at the Gryffindor table, he noticed more ghosts than he thought lived in Hogwarts gliding across the room, whispering fervently to each other. Although Harry knew that Halloween was well celebrated in the magical community, there seemed to be more of a fuss today than normal. He took a quick glance around the Great Hall, and noticed looks of anxiety and fear stricken upon many of the students' faces.

"Oh, this is horrible," he heard Hermione say in a hushed voice while he was making his way to his seat.

"How is Halloween horrible?" Ron asked in a skeptical voice. In his typical manner, it seemed as if Ron had not noticed the looks of anxiety slowly spreading across the Great Hall.

"Not that," Hermione said, "this." She pointed to an article heading the first page of The Daily Prophet. Now, Harry could see why the Great Hall was making such a spectacle.

**13 MUGGLES, 5 WITCHES AND WIZARDS FOUND DEAD. BELIEVED TO BE THE WORK OF YOU-KNOW-WHO.**

_On October 30th at 9 o'clock at night, it is said that You-Know-Who and his remaining followers that aren't currently residing in Azkaban made an appearance in a community mainly consisting of Muggles, Liverpool. This sudden appearance led to the death of 13 Muggles, and a combination of 5 witches and wizards whose names shall not be disclosed to the public in respect to their families._

_A wizard who managed to survive this experience, although extremely shaken, Aiken Ramsey said: "It was a horrific experience, watching all these people die and knowing that you could do nothing about it. I would've done something to help, but was greatly discouraged and seemingly paralyzed after I watched five of my fellow friends die while struggling for their lives. I quickly tried to hide, and make an escape so that I would not have to watch him further torment these people, and to save my own life. I had always hoped the days living in fear of You-Know-Who were over, yet now I have seen him return, I am more afraid now than I was then."_

_In response to this recent event, Emmeline Vance, the new and first Ministress of Magic, commented: "At the moment, the Ministry of Magic is doing everything it can to track down You-Know-Who and his remaining followers not already within our Azkaban prison as well as conceal the recent event from Muggles in collaboration with the heads of the Muggle government. We have successfully wiped the memory of this event from all Muggles who watched that event unfold before their very eyes and who somehow succeeded in surviving. It is very crucial that the magical_ _community does not respond with rash actions and does not slip into a period of hysteria; it would only be what he wants. The magical community should only be concerned with carrying out their normal daily activities, considering at the moment the Ministry of Magic is doing everything it can to prevent further attacks and is following all the precautions to ensure our safety."_


	16. Black Magic

Harry finished reading the article with a pale-stricken face, and although shaken, became angry at the Ministry of Magic for not expecting this and doing anything until the end of last year, when it was too late. Although when Harry voiced his thoughts, Hermione seemed to think his anger was misplaced.

"Honestly, Harry," Hermione replied, "there was no way they could've predicted exactly where V-Voldemort," she said with a bit of a hushed voice, "would've attacked next. Even with the information from the Order, which is, as we know, confidential for the most part, they couldn't have stopped him without having any more casualties."

Ron nodded his head silently at Hermione's remark. Either Ron was too shocked to speak, or still refused to talk to Hermione after their row last night, which would be typical of his nature.

"At least now people will believe me," Harry whispered, barely loud enough for anyone to hear him.

'_Wait a minute,'_ he thought, _'Emmeline Vance... I know that name, but from where?'_

Harry reread the article to no alas; he still didn't remember exactly who Emmeline Vance was, although the name sounded familiar.

"She's a member of the Order," Mandy whispered as she sat down next to him, seemingly come out of nowhere. "She was also in the Advance Guard last year in bringing you from the Dursley's to - well, you know where."

The trio all stared at her, wondering as to what that comment was responding to. After she filled her plate with food, she looked up at them and noticed their expressions, and quickly attempted to explain herself.

"Oh, dear, I've done it again, haven't I?" Mandy said. "I'm so sorry, Harry, really I am."

Harry laughed, just now realizing that she had responded to his thoughts, but why was she reading his thoughts anyway?

"You see," she continued her explanation, "when I don't really focus on one thing in particular, my brain kind of just wanders through thoughts, not focused at one particular person or area... I'm pretty sure it just focuses on whosever thoughts are the strongest, or rather, whomever is focusing the most on something." She blushed, and once again apologized for her unintentional actions.

"So what's going on?" Mandy asked, just noticing her surroundings.

"Here, read this," Hermione offered her the paper.

Mandy's eyes widened as she read the article, and Harry noticed that a mingled look of sadness, anger, and fear shown in her eyes.

"I can't believe," he heard her whisper angrily. He saw her expression go blank as she continued to just stare at the paper. He could tell now that there was something else she was hiding.

Mandy had noticed Harry, as well as Ron and Hermione, staring at her, so she had hidden her emotions she knew were showing in her eyes after reading the article the first time through.

All of a sudden, this overwhelming emotion seemingly overtook her, regardless of what her eyes were attempting to conceal. Still holding the paper in her hands, she suddenly burst up and ran out of the Great Hall, tears lingering in her eyes.

"What was that about?" Ron asked.

"I don't know," Harry replied truthfully.

Later on that night, the usual Halloween festivities in the Great Hall ensued. The trio found that although the Great Hall had the appearance of a time of celebration with pumpkins filling the corners, and candles floating lazily in midair, the unease was prominent in the environment. Although decorations could create a deceiving outlook, there was no doubt in any of their minds that today's Daily Prophet news dimmed the spirit all witches and wizards had for Halloween.

As they continued on with meal set out for them, much to the dismay of Hermione, ("This is ridiculous! I can't believe they are working the house-elves through Halloween; they should at least get a break then. It is after all the most celebrated holiday witches and wizards have!"), they couldn't help but notice the forced conversation between neighbors in an attempt to maintain the usual cheer Halloween held.

Harry had also happened to notice that a few people were missing from the dinner tables, one of them being Mandy. In fact, not one of the three of them had seen a trace of her since that morning when she had practically burst out of the Great Hall in tears. Harry figured that with the memories Mandy had shown them, that he would be able to understand her and her actions more, yet, it seemed as if they only outlined her mystery and kept his vision clouded about who she really was. Harry then thought back to 5th year when he had been dating Cho, and to think of it, he had been just as confused then. He would really appreciate a book on deciphering woman's minds right about now.


	17. Troublesome Trial

Throughout the rest of the week, Hermione and Ron had patched things up, grudgingly as usual, yet continued to engage in smaller arguments and disagreements that they bickered back and forth to each other. The other event that had occurred throughout the course of the week had perplexed all three of them, and become more noticeable as the days went by.

Ever since Halloween morning in the Great Hall, Mandy had been strangely distant from the trio as opposed to the first day when she seemed to be clinging to them. Whenever asked, she would mutter something about needing to talk to a professor, or how much work she had to catch up on, and then she would hurry off in another direction.

"Harry! Harry!" Ron whispered loudly, as to not catch Professor McGonagall's attention, but to catch Harry's instead. He then slowly traced Harry's gaze as to see what was occupying his sight and apparently, his thoughts as he continued to ignore Ron. Ron had finally found the subject of Harry's thoughts over the last couple of moments: Mandy.

"Still thinking about her then, eh?" Ron asked with a smirk.

"What?" Harry asked, being drawn out of his day-dreaming, "Well, is it just me or is she acting completely different than the way she did the first day she got here?"

"Well, if you ask me," Ron replied in a low whisper, "she always did seem like a nutter."

"Oh yes," Harry replied sarcastically, "and I suppose your relationship with Hermione is completely sane."

Ron blushed deeply, and muttered something under his breath that drifted off to form incomplete sentences, and sounded similar to "Well... there really is... no relationship... How you could compare..."

Harry shook off Ron's remark about Mandy, and continued to copy down the rest of McGonagall's notes, trying to pry his thoughts away from all the things that had been boggling his mind from this year alone. Between the prophecies, Voldemort, the veil, Mandy, and other assorted things, his mind was tired of thinking about things that had a mystery behind them. He began to carry the same attitude he bore in the 5th year, and was determined to be informed with some solid information for once. He decided that the only way to solve this nonsense would be to find out directly from one of the sources, who although was averting him lately, could not avert him if he approached her. It was then that he decided he would need to talk to Mandy after class.

Luckily for Harry, he did not have to wait much longer to talk to Mandy because the bell was due to ring in five minutes. With his last five minutes, instead of copying the rest of the notes McGonagall had placed on the board, (he figured he could get them from Hermione later anyway,) he thought about how he could get Mandy to talk to him. Obviously, he couldn't walk right up to her and ask her how things were going, because he knew that she would only give him the same reply she had given him all week and brush him off. He needed some way to get her attention, and at least keep her there for a bit so he could get whatever information it was she was hiding out of her.

Finally, the bell rung, and Harry started to walk up to Mandy, feigning confidence. When Mandy turned around and began to collect her schoolbooks to go, Harry could see that she had rings beneath her eyes that looked as if they had been deepening every night and a paler face than normal. Due to the fact that she was in the process of gathering her Transfiguration books and quills, she had not noticed Harry's presence, but once she had swung her school bag over her shoulder and looked up, she froze. She then turned around on her heel, and attempted to walk in a different direction than the one Harry was blocking, and quickened her pace out of the classroom.

Harry was utterly confused; _why was she doing this?_

"What's her problem?" Ron muttered behind him to Hermione, both of whom had apparently come up behind him.

"I don't know," Harry replied to the question, which wasn't intentionally aimed at him, "but I'm going to find out."

Harry quickened his pace, and ran out of the classroom in a determined attempt to catch up with Mandy.

Eventually, he managed to catch up with Mandy from behind in the hallways, and grabbed her arm whilst still being out of breath, so she couldn't leave.

"Wait," Harry said with a commanding tone, still trying to catch his breath.

Mandy waited patiently, although remained oddly stiff as if she had been caught sneaking around Hogwarts late at night, and still carried a look of urgency and reproachful fear which seemed to remain constant ever since Halloween.

"Please, let me go," she replied after waiting in the expanse of silence, "I don't want you to get in trouble..."

Her eyes skimmed the hallways nervously, as if she was afraid to be around his presence.

Still confused, Harry dropped her arm slowly, and stared into her eyes with bewilderment. "Trouble?" he asked, unsure as if he had heard her correctly.

Her eyes began to tear up again as they had on Halloween, only bringing more attention to her currently gaunt facial features. "Yes, I'm sorry," she said with a look of dismay, "but I have to go."

Leaving Harry more confused than before he had talked to her, she continued to run down the hallway and presumably back to the Gryffindor Common Room.

Harry, having nowhere to go now that his day's lessons were over, decided to head back to the Gryffindor Common Room as well and wait for Ron and Hermione to come to tell them his findings - whatever those were.


	18. Invisible Clarity

To Harry's surprise, when he had finally reached the Common Room, he already found Ron and Hermione there. They seemed to be in the midst of a deep conversation, and as he walked in, causing the portrait of the Fat Lady to slam, they jumped, and instinctively turned around to see who came in.

"Oh, hello, Harry," Hermione replied, now seeing who it was. "How'd it go with Mandy?"

"We saw her burst in here awhile ago in tears before she darted up the stairs to the girl's common room," Ron replied promptly, pausing a bit before continuing, "why do you always get interested in the ones that are bawling all over the place, anyway?"  
  
"Ronald!" Hermione cried, her face showing distinct anger. "There are reasons girls cry you know, and knowing what Mandy's been through, there is surely a reason!"  
  
"And what would that be?" Ron yelled back at her.  
  
"I- I don't know," she replied, defeated, "but recently, I have caught her at certain times pacing around, mumbling to herself. She is obviously occupied with something very important..." she trailed off, her face screwed up in concentration.  
  
Within a few moments, Hermione became suddenly flustered, as she then proceeded to search for something in the pockets of her robe.  
  
"Here," said Hermione, thrusting a note to Harry, which he instantly opened, "I found a note for you on the table when we walked in."  
  
"What does it say?" Ron asked.  
  
"I don't know," Hermione replied shrilly, "It was addressed to Harry."  
  
"I was asking Harry," Ron retorted.  
  
"Oh," Hermione blushed deeply, "sorry."  
  
"It's all right," Ron said softly, apparently feeling bad that he made Hermione blush.  
  
Harry cleared his voice, having just finished reading the surprisingly short letter addressed to him, and noticing that once again his two best friends' were averting each other's eyes.  
  
"Oh, so what does it say?" Hermione asked, blushing even deeper.  
  
"Here, you read it," Harry said, handing the piece of parchment to Hermione.

_Harry,  
Be warned: Do not go after the thing you seek._  
  
"It isn't signed," Ron replied bluntly, having read the note over Hermione's shoulder.  
  
"Hmm, I wonder," Hermione replied vaguely, "yes, it does certainly look as if..."  
  
Without paying any notice to the boys' mystified looks, Hermione hurriedly walked to the stairs leading to the girl's Common Room, and disappeared behind the door leading into her destination.  
  
"It would've been horrible had she been vague in her explanation," Ron replied sarcastically.  
  
Harry laughed, "I think she forgot that that letter was addressed to me, maybe we should go get it back and get the answer out of it."  
  
Ron replied, reminding Harry something he had forgotten, "We can't, remember? The stairs melt into a slide if any boys try to go up them."  
  
Harry thought back to the time they had attempted to walk up the stairs to visit Hermione, and Ron's embarrassment when he had found out that they couldn't do that.  
  
Jerking Harry out of his thoughts, and Harry and Ron out of their conversation, he heard what he thought was Hermione coming down the stairs.  
  
Apparently, Ron was thinking along the same lines and called out, "Oy, Hermione, you finally going to tell us what you were thinking about before?"   
  
To Ron's and Harry's astonishment though, when the footsteps had stopped, Hermione wasn't standing there... in fact, no one was.

Although Harry had no idea of who had just come down the stairs from the girl's dormitories, he knew that they must've put on an invisibility cloak before they came down. And although his mind was swirling with confusion including thoughts of who else would own an invisibility cloak or if someone had had access to his, there were a few definite facts in his mind. The first fact was that it could not be Hermione as they had originally thought, because Hermione did not own an invisibility cloak, she would've had no reason to hide herself from them, and the fact that had she tried to retrieve Harry's cloak for this specific moment she would've had to use a summoning charm, which Harry did not see take place. The second fact is that whoever was hiding beneath the invisibility cloak would not come out until Harry and Ron, (who at the time were the only two remaining in the Gryffindor Common Room,) left the room or had successfully convinced the person that they had left the room. Luckily, Harry processed all this information quickly in his mind, quick enough to prevent Ron from doing anything that would cause another roadblock in this situation, and made up an excuse loudly to drag Ron up to the boy's dormitories with him.

Harry cleared his throat as to catch Ron's attention, warily watching the spot where he was sure the person was still hovering, and created an alibi. "Err... Ron, I forgot something that we'll need to finish our homework in our room, come up with me to get it?"

Ron looked at Harry with a high degree of confusion, perhaps as to why Harry would need Ron's assistance to retrieve an item from their room. "Err... sure, Harry. Let's go, then, mate."

Harry nodded shortly, and quickened his pace towards the boy's dormitories in order to pick up two of the most important items in his current possession, with Ron jogging behind him in an attempt to catch up.

Halfway to their Common Room, Ron had finally caught up with Harry and roughly asked Harry what he really had to get, why he was walking so fast, and why they didn't stay down there to find out whom it was.

"Well," Harry replied, still walking at his quickened pace, "obviously we weren't going to find out whoever they were if they found the need to stay underneath their invisibility cloak, so I figured we'd be better off getting two possessions of mine that would come handy in a position like this."

"Which would be?" Ron asked, dumbfounded, as he watched Harry rummage through his trunk after having arrived at their room moments ago.

"Here's my invisibility cloak!" Harry proclaimed, "Now where's the map... ah, here it is! Let's go!"

Ron stood glued to the ground as Harry went to leave the room; it wasn't until Harry called out to Ron that he moved.

"Here!" said Harry, thrusting his invisibility cloak at Ron, and heading off back towards the Gryffindor Common Room, "take this... We're going to need it later... I can't carry it because I'm going to try and figure out who was underneath the cloak using the map."

Harry and Ron continued to jog back to the Gryffindor Common Room, until all of a sudden, Harry stopped in his place and gawked at the map, not believing his sight, and why he had not suspected her to begin with. A moment later, when Ron had come to see why Harry had stopped, one word; one name, escaped Harry's lips, revealing the identity of the person beneath the cloak.

"Mandy?" He whispered in confusion.

"What about her, mate?" Ron asked, "Why'd you stop? Shouldn't we be going down to the Common Room to see who's there?"

Mandy," Harry said flatly, "Mandy's under the cloak." He paused for a moment to wonder why had she had shown them so much of her past, and yet, was now drawing back from the trio to which she clung her first day at Hogwarts. "Let's go," he said determinedly.

Ron nodded briefly, to show he had now comprehended the situation entirely, and continued to jog with Harry until they had reached the door linking the boy's Common Room to the Gryffindor Common Room at which both had paused with mounting anticipation.

"Quietly," Harry said warningly, as he opened the door as silently as he could.

Ron, knowing what to do next because of previous years of hiding from those who would be searching for them, draped the cloak over he and Harry.

With the cloak draped over their bodies, they proceeded to tiptoe down the stairs and stop at one that they found was at a good enough position to see and hear Mandy.

When they finally rested upon the staircase, they saw Mandy pacing back and forth nervously in front of a table, occasionally glancing at her watch. On the table lie the invisibility cloak she had used to hide her identity, a piece of parchment with writing on it, and a quill – presumably, she had just written a message on the piece of parchment beside it.

"It's time," she said, glancing one last nervous time at her watch, grabbing her invisibility cloak, and heading out into the corridors after having the portrait of the Fat Lady slam behind her.

Harry and Ron slid out from underneath their invisibility cloak, and headed towards the table where Mandy's quill and parchment still lie.

"Blimey," Ron said, "I wonder what that was all about."

Harry ignored Ron's comment and picked up Mandy's quill, twirling it between his fingers whilst reading a message she had apparently left him, a strange sensation sweeping through him.

_Harry,_

_Sometimes the truth is meant to be kept a secret, and the truth that will be told tonight should only be burdened upon the one whose life it lives through. I repeat, do not go after the thing you seek, it will only cause more trouble._

Like the previous note Harry had read that day, this one remained unsigned. Within a moment, Harry had put everything together. Both notes were unsigned and had the same exact writing style. Harry had just seen Mandy around the note moments ago, her quill beside the parchment, only after she had hidden herself from them in an invisibility cloak. She had also been keeping her distance from the trio lately, showing odd behavior as she had consistently told Harry within the past week or so to leave her alone or trouble would ensue. This letter warned him of trouble that would follow if he were to go after the answers he seeked was looking for. It all made sense now. Regardless of what the letters warned, and Mandy told him, he knew he had to go after Mandy and find out what she had been hiding these last few weeks that was so important to keep him out of it only weeks after revealing some of the most important parts of her past to him, and to the trio.

"Mandy," Harry whispered in conclusion.

"Mate," said Ron, "you're going to wear out her name at the rate you're using it."

"No, Ron," said Harry, "I meant... Mandy wrote these letters. Don't you find it suspicious that Mandy's been keeping away from us and warning us about trouble just like the letters have been telling us to keep away and warning us of trouble if we don't?"

Ron's eyes widened in comprehension, as he replied: "I reckon Hermione would want to know about this as well."

"Yeah," Harry replied, "but how are we supposed to get her back down here? We both know that we can't go up those stairs."

"Well," Hermione replied slyly, seemingly coming out of nowhere, "she could walk down the stairs and into the Common Room herself... that might solve your problem."

Ron beamed. "Hermione," he replied, "good timing."

"Yeah," Harry responded, "what brought you back down here now anyway, and where did you go to begin with?"

"Oh, well, I had a suspicion that Mandy had written the note because of her behavior lately, and because the handwriting on the note looked oddly like her schoolwork handwriting... so I went upstairs to confirm my suspicions, and surely enough, it was the same exact handwriting. But I can see you found all that out without me," Hermione beamed proudly.

"Well," Ron abruptly joined the conversation, "I helped too you know... I always thought that Mandy was a suspicious character."

Harry attempted to cough back the laughter that was bursting to come out as Ron looked hopefully at Hermione, who in return, smiled warmly at him.

Harry awkwardly glanced between the two, and coughed loudly as to bring their attention back to the situation instead of the focus that had brewed between the two to look into each other's eyes. Both then averted their eyes from each other's stare, and attempted to look anywhere but the pair of eyes they were just looking into.

"Right," Harry said awkwardly, "Well then, we should be off following her, shouldn't we?"

"Right," Hermione replied firmly, as she swept towards the portrait, "let's go."

Harry then quickly took the note and the quill and shoved them into his robe pockets amongst the Marauder's Map, as he headed after Ron and Hermione who were already waiting for him by the portrait hole with the invisibility cloak.

The trio then proceeded to roam the corridors under the invisibility cloak in search of Mandy. Fortunately for them, Harry had come into possession with the Marauder's Map, which had been bequeathed upon him by Fred and George in his third year, which also made the task of searching for Mandy fairly easy, seeing as it labeled every person within the castle regardless of any disguises or invisibility cloaks they might be wearing.

They followed Mandy's dot throughout the castle, and ended up in a part of the castle they never even knew existed – although it had most likely been on the map, they had never personally explored it.

It was a dark corridor, and Harry felt as if he were entering Firenze's Divination class again; as he stepped on the ground, he was sure he felt grass beneath his feet. The air had a lingering weight as Harry felt it pack down upon his skin. As he continued walking with Hermione and Ron he also noticed a fresh mist that was stilled within the air; it was as if they were walking through a light rainstorm frozen in time.

Harry felt Hermione shiver beneath the cloak because the three of them were so packed together underneath it, and couldn't blame her – the atmosphere created a cold eerie feeling, almost similar to one a Dementor created.

"This," Hermione whispered, her breath becoming visible in the air, "must be the graveyard," she concluded.

"The what?" Harry whispered back furiously.

"The graveyard," Hermione replied in her hushed tones promptly.

"We have one of those?" Harry asked, perplexed that such a wonderful place would have such a depressing corridor.

"Yes," she replied vaguely, "I read about it in Hogwarts, A History."

Even through the dark, Harry distinctly saw Ron roll his eyes at Hermione's love of literature.

Then, in the distance, Harry heard two voices, one very soft; presumably trying to avoid being heard, the other very furious and rapid; stacatto – he naturally concluded that Mandy was one, but Harry could not figure out the other. He went to consult the map, but it was so dark that he could no longer see the names on the map anymore, he supposed this would be a problem on the way back to the Gryffindor Tower – but he'd worry about that later.

As they quickly made their way further into the corridor, Harry heard the voices grow louder and more distinct – they must be getting closer. Surely enough, the trio found themselves audience to a very interesting conversation.

"Hello, Mandy..." a deep male voice said slowly; a voice that contained tones of maliciousness.

"Go away," a more feminine voice, one Harry instantly recognized as Mandy's, replied harshly, "The Ministry has no role interfering in my school work."

"Oh, but I'm not here on behalf of the Ministry..." the male voice replied smoothly; challengingly, "I am here for other reasons."

For some reason, the male voice sounded oddly familiar to Harry – he had heard it somewhere before, but he couldn't remember exactly who it belonged to.

"You will not harm the three people you are seeking," Mandy replied with as much fervor as she had before, "if that's what you are implying..."

Harry's pulse was quickening, and he could hear his every heart every time it beat within his head.

"You will not harm the three people you are seeking..." 

Those words echoed in his head as he was making sense of it all. Her distance from them; the way she kept away from them after her coma. She did have a vision, and she did everything she could to warn him, them. Those notes that told him to not follow her; those notes that warned of trouble if he were to follow. He should've put it together quicker. That time in the hallway where he had followed her until she told him why she was acting the way she was – to keep him out of trouble. This was the trouble she warned of. She did not want them there because this man, whoever he was, was after them, and she wanted to ensure that they not get hurt.

As Harry was piecing this all together, he could hear Hermione making the same exact connections he had by the soft "Oh" that fell out of her mouth.

The next thing he knew, Harry had looked up, and was staring into Mandy's eyes. Her beautiful ocean blue eyes. He was swimming through the depths of blue, drowning in all her essence – and he found himself wanting to fall deeper and deeper into them. He wanted to be everything those beautiful blue eyes saw. Suddenly, Harry snapped out of his trance with reality impeding upon his thoughts. She knew. She knew they were there now. Hermione's "Oh," as soft as it was, had given them away.

Luckily, the man who was after them paid no notice; he seemed to be talking just as Hermione had released her realization.

"You knew?" he said outraged, furious at her knowledge. "I should've seen this coming; the Dark Lord warned me... If only you would follow him, it would make this much easier. You would greatly benefit from being on his side, your power will expand beyond your wildest dreams..." he said persuasively, trying to tempt her.

"I will never join him! I don't care about power!" she shouted back, her words only amplified in the dead silence of the corridor.

He smiled evilly, "It really doesn't matter if you want to join him or not, you know. Do you know you've been our pawn the whole time, regardless, Mandy? Why yes, you've been quite useful."

"W-what are you talking about?" Mandy faltered; her tone wavering a bit, making her suddenly seem unsure of herself. This was something she clearly hadn't expected to hear.

"Do you remember that boyfriend of yours," he smiled, as his eyes flickered with glee, "what was his name again? Oh yes, I believe it was... Elliot," he paused, as Harry was sure he could see this man's grin widen.

"Elliot," she said, her voice hushed; her eyes open in confusion. "What does he have to do with any of this?"

"Why yes, Elliot." He continued as if he hadn't heard anything she said, "All this time you had thought he was a wizard, one who had believed strongly in our beliefs, in what was right. No, no, Dear Mandy, you were wrong I'm afraid. Yes, while all during this the time, he was in fact, placed under the Imperius curse, controlled to do all of our bidding. Yet, you, caring and faithful to human kind, did not even suspect it all those days."

Harry watched as a look of pure terror glazed over her eyes, and she seemed to carry a certain amount of disbelief, confusion, and disappointment. "No, you are lying, this is not true! It's all lies! You are just trying to test me, Mark, you and Voldemort... Well I won't fall for it!" She screamed, attempting to convince herself more than to tell this man, Mark, off.

'_Mark,'_ Harry thought, _'that name sounds familiar... Mark, Mark..._'

Harry's eyes suddenly widened with the realization of who this Mark was that he remembered; Mark was Mandy's trainer.

"Every bit of it is indeed true," he said, tauntingly, "and the even more shocking thing that you will learn tonight is that what I have just told you barely hit the surface of what you do not know; there is more, much more."

"How much?" Mandy asked, testing her own emotional strength, as her eyes pleaded for information.

"Rachel, such a nice girl, I do remember you were quite close with her." His smile, if possible, widened even more, as he mentioned the name of Mandy's deceased friend – the one who died from Mandy's own wand.

Mandy gritted her teeth, appalled that Mark had used Rachel's name. "How dare you speak of her! She was my best friend, and she was murdered all because..."

"Of you," he replied, still cheerful. "Yes, it is true we did torture her repetitively until she spoke. Yes, it is true that we captured her, but it was because of you, my darling, it was all because of you. It was your fault she died, you silly girl. In fact, do you remember who told you Rachel was betraying you?" He paused, waiting for her response.

"You," she whispered in a venomous voice.

"Correct yet again, Mandy," he cried with a sadistic delight. "Perhaps you belonged in Ravenclaw instead of Gryffindor, what with all this intelligence you are displaying to me tonight," he said, sneering at her while she suffered the burden of this newfound knowledge.

She glared at him with all the anger she could muster after just being told of all her downfalls – one by one.

"Yes, me," he continued, "I'd like to think I was one of Voldemort's greatest helps in his rise this time around. Do you know why? I made sure her betrayal leaked to you, _but_ as your trainer, a trainer whom you though innocent. Isn't it funny how easily appearances can deceive? You were so easy to deceive, Mandy, you were putty in our hands. You killed her when we wanted you to. We happened to be done with her right when I leaked the information to you, in hopes that you would dispose of her for us, as to not draw attention to Voldemort's killings, and all at the same time, to torment you. It was killing two birds with one stone, isn't that just convenient?" He asked, completely chipper as he slowly tore Mandy apart.

"No... No..." Mandy cried in denial.

"Yes, you are a naive little girl, Mandy, always following rules - well it was quite easy to control you when I was training you, wasn't it?"

"But why train me?" Mandy asked, her voice losing the strength and fury it had started with in this conversation.

"Why train you? Well, the Dark Lord loved the irony, it amused him so," he paused for reflection, to make sure his points were correct, "and he wanted a challenge to face. It is much more fun to him that way: when he beats them without even their knowledge of it. That's all you are, Mandy... A couple of prophecies, and a challenge, oh yes, your a challenge..." he said, lunging towards her, pressing her up against a tombstone, and grabbing her face with one hand, "but you are nothing else."

Harry felt anger and disgust swarm through his veins, as he had the greatest desire to go up to this man and push him away and off of Mandy. He felt so hopeless sitting there, knowing that he had to stay under this invisibility cloak in order to protect Hermione and Ron as well.

Harry watched as Mark then pushed her further upon the tombstone at wand-point, and scraped her cheek with his wand, leaving a deep cut. "And remember, you best stay out of our way, you little witch..." he said, piercing her skin further with his wand. "I'll get _them_ later," he added before mysteriously disappearing into air, leaving Mandy stranded by the tombstone.

Harry watched as she slowly slid down the tombstone, only to fall with a thud upon the ground. He watched as she buried her head within her hands and shook it furiously. He watched as her hands slid through her hair vigorously, shaking with emotion, and then got up in a fit of anger, striding towards where they were located.

She abruptly stopped right in front of them, her eyes full of tears that were slowly spilling onto her cheeks. "You can come out," she whispered sorrowfully, with a small hint of anger still hiding in her voice.

Harry slowly pulled the invisibility cloak off of the three of them, standing up to meet Mandy in the eyes.

"You shouldn't have come," she said with the same tone of sorrow, staring Harry straight in the eyes "I warned you not to come."

She pushed through them, and ran down the corridor, tears still streaming down her cheeks.

Harry felt horrible. Maybe he _shouldn't _have come.


	19. Disaster Victims

Harry, Ron, and Hermione stood there in silence momentarily before continuing back towards the Gryffindor Common Room. What they had just found out was shocking; what they just saw was surely more than they had bargained for. They all watched Mandy crumble before them; this person who they all thought was so strong was reduced to tears. The visions that Mandy had shown them deceived them into believing she was someone else, just as her trainer had deceived her. Two deceptions had been unveiled tonight, and Harry was quite unsure of how to respond. Yes, Harry did care for Mandy in at least a friend-type manner, and she did seem nice and as proven by tonight, she was just as much human as the rest of them, but he didn't know how much he could trust her anymore. If she could so easily deceive them with something as major as whom she was, what else could she deceive them about?

Having just gotten to the portrait leading to the Gryffindor Common Room, Harry removed the cloak off of the three of them, and after saying the password, (Demiguise,) stepped inside first – not wanting to see either of his friends' reactions. This was, after all, his idea to chase after Mandy – he was still wondering whether he should regret that decision or not.

There sat Mandy in a red squashy Gryffindor chair, wrapped in a blanket, wearing her night robes, and sipping out of a steaming mug of hot chocolate; she looked like a disaster victim. When she turned to look at who came through the portrait door, her puffy red eyes hollowed in a bit, and she made an unsuccessful attempt at a warm smile. In fact, the closest she got to a smile was a nervous twitch of the lip.

She slowly and carefully set her hot chocolate upon the side-table, and the blanket back upon the chair. She pulled her robes tightly across her – as some form of security.

She then walked over towards them, still bearing the hesitance Harry had seen her display a lot of recently, and paused briefly to speak.

"I'm sorry," she said, her voice small and raspy, "I'm sorry for everything, _everything_. I wouldn't blame you if you never talked to me again," she hung her head in a tired manner, and began to walk away.

'_No,'_ Harry thought, _'she is not going to get away that easily.'_

Harry strode towards the girl's dormitories and blocked the entrance, preventing Mandy from entering.

"No," he said, shaking his head determinedly, "you will, for once, stick around and explain _everything_ – the truth."

She stood there and questioned him with her eyes, with a look of wonder, as to where this comment came from.

"Please," she whispered, trying to push past him, "just let me be – it'd be better for the both of us."

"No," Harry replied stubbornly, holding his stance in front of the staircase, "I'm not moving until you explain why you've been acting the way you do."

"Try having some prophecies looming over your head – one whose end solely depends upon three people you have never met," she whispered bitterly upon the talk of a prophecy, "and you don't know how to gain their trust, and all at the same time, you have to shake a prophecy off your back just such you can sleep a bit easier at night – selfish, I know – but that's why I apologized – not only because of what I put you three through, but for being utterly selfish. I should've known that you would've gotten frustrated too, and that you would've followed me regardless of my warnings – heck, I would've been suspicious of me. But I wanted to lessen my load, lose some training," Mandy chuckled hesitantly, "which shouldn't be a problem now – but I just wanted to lead a _normal_ life. Yet, the only thing preventing me from having that now is this stubborn boy who is blocking me from getting up the staircase," she ended jokingly.

Harry although, did not smile or joke back.

"What," he started seriously, "do we have to do with anything? What prophecy are we involved in?"

Harry's head was spinning. All three of them involved in a prophecy? Not just him, but Hermione and Ron too? This didn't seem possible.

"No," she said slowly, looking for somewhere to sit down, "sorry, I worded that incorrectly – the only person I share a prophecy with out of the three of you is you actually."

Harry contained a slight twinge of relief in finding out that his two best friends did not have to carry the burden of a prophecy as well, but as realization of her words hit him, worry swept through again. Suddenly, things were clicking into place for Harry. Phrases he had once heard towards the beginning of the year were returning to him and making sense this time around.

'_There will be another who will hold the fate of the world in their hands unknowingly...'_

Harry's vision was fading fast; everything was going black as he looked around helplessly, only to see Mandy's worried face fading in front of him. He heard himself breathing heavily, and he felt himself trembling before his knees made contact with the carpet below him. He just barely heard Mandy call out to Ron and Hermione for help, and sound of feet thudding quickly to follow. He curled his hands that were resting upon the ground for balance into fists, as a surging pain spread through him, draining him of energy. Surrendering to this pain of unknown source, he collapsed upon the Gryffindor Common Room rug.

He woke up in what seemed like ages afterwards to him; he woke up feeling older. He felt a cool hand upon his forehead, which brought a cold prickling sensation that rid him of the pain he held inside him moments ago. He then slowly opened his eyes to see Mandy leaning over him. She was more or less about a foot above him, and her eyes carried a concentrated determination. Yet, she looked weary and troubled. Her eyes contained a plethora of emotions; they were clouded, as to tuck all feeling away, or as if she was experiencing too many emotions at once for one pure one to shine blatantly through.

'_Beautiful blue eyes,'_ Harry thought.

"Wait," Harry said, suddenly jolting up so that he was no longer laying, but sitting upon the ground, accidentally causing Mandy to stumble backwards, and fall upon the carpet herself; he accidentally knocked her over in his sudden awakening.

"Oh, sorry," he apologized, leaning over Mandy, who had just been shoved onto the ground accidentally, in order to pull her up.

He quickly enjoyed the closeness to he, but then condemned himself for straying off original thought.

"Firstly," he began, not giving Mandy, who was now sitting up, a chance to speak, "what did you just do? I mean, why were you leaning over me?" he asked, trying to suppress a blush.

"Healer," she said simply and professionally, "remember?"

She looked exceedingly tired; she was swaying slightly, almost as if she was struggling to stay awake.

"Are you okay?" Harry asked out of concern as he watched her place her hand on her forehead, as if to protect her vision from some blinding light, and the other on the ground in order to steady herself.

"Yeah," she muttered, "your healing – you were in enormous pain – I get the side affect of what you were feeling as I remove it," she replied, rubbing her temples as she shut her tired blue eyes.

"So you were what caused that cool breezy feeling?" he inquired.

"That is the cleansing process, yes," she responded, opening her weary eyes. "It takes longer and more energy to heal a mental wound," she explained. "What were you thinking of by the way?"

"You don't know?" Harry asked stupidly.

"No," she explained, "when healing, you only focus on healing, you cannot focus on anything else – including other's thoughts."

"Well," Harry said, pausing to word his response carefully, "I was thinking about what you said, and about prophecies. In fact, I was thinking about a new prophecy I learned off in the beginning of the year that associated me with another – and I thought that maybe you were that other."

Ron's eyes widened slightly as Hermione frowned. Hermione opened her mouth to speak just before Ron turned around and told her quickly to not ask, and that he would tell her later.

"No," Mandy replied defiantly, "I would like to hear of this prophecy too."

So Harry, trying to remember the exact wording of the prophecy, spoke of it as best he could. When he had concluded in speaking of the prophecy, Mandy looked dumbfounded.

"I've never heard of that one before," she replied slowly, bearing a frown that Harry matched.

He had been so sure it was her in the prophecy. It would've made sense at least.

"So," she asked, breaking the silence, "there were questions you wanted to ask... ones you wanted the 'truth' to," she said, using her fingers as quotes when she came to the word truth.

"Yeah," Harry said offhandedly, still pondering the possibility that it might be her in the prophecy.

"So?" she humored him.

"Oh, right," Harry responded, trying to recall the questions he had been meaning to ask her. "Well," he paused, finally deciding upon which question to ask first, "why did you show us the memories you did?"

Mandy sighed, "I showed you the memories I did so you'd put some trust in me, and not doubt my abilities and priorities... so you'd befriend me. I needed you to think I could be one of you. I just told you this before, and I really do apologize for being the way I was. It was an improper way to start things."

Harry nodded shortly in response, as Hermione and Ron sat in the background with skeptical looks. How valid were her excuses and apologies anymore?

"How did you know when Mark was coming? Why did you start backing away from us when you did?" Harry questioned curiously.

"I didn't know exactly when he was coming, I never knew really... I just knew he was coming soon based upon the things that were happening during the time," Mandy replied.

"Like what?" Harry prompted.

"Well, I originally knew Mark was coming because I had a vision in that week I was in the Infirmary, but I wasn't sure when he would come... once I saw the article about the deaths in Liverpool, I knew he would come soon," she took an intake of breath, "something like _that_ for instance."

"But how would you know that Mark was coming soon just from that newspaper article? I mean..."

"Because," Mandy said sharply but softly, cutting him off, "my parents live in Liverpool. So naturally, I assumed he was going after them in order to get to me – which he was, but he didn't know I went to Hogwarts. Luckily, my parents survived. I would've never forgiven myself..." Mandy trailed off.

"You told Ginny you didn't remember anything..." Harry whispered, his compassion fighting to rise to the level where it was before, although his mind still remained judgmental and untrusting.

"You never know who could tell what to someone else," Mandy said tiredly, "as I learned tonight... So I thought it better to keep my mouth shut. Now, if you don't mind, if you would please let me go to sleep?" She asked, already beginning to head up the staircase.

"What would've happened to us had you not interfered?" Harry asked loudly, now standing up completely.

Mandy stopped abruptly halfway up the staircase. She then slowly turned around to face Harry with a look of sorrow and burden, and replied, "A war is already brewing, Harry. Had I not interfered is what you want to know; what you want to know is what my vision showed me that stopped you from coming and revealing yourselves? Had I not interfered, two would be immortally scarred, and the remaining one would be battling with himself in more ways than one. Had I not interfered, Potter, the war that is on the horizon would be reckless, passionate, and ridden with blood... Emotions do such things to a person. Which is why I sacrificed mine in an effort to protect the three of you from making a horrible mistake," she concluded firmly, yet drained of all energy.

She stared at Harry for another brief moment, then swiveled back around and continued her way up the stairs sluggishly.

Harry stared at the space where Mandy had just stood blankly, and listened to the door of the girl's dormitories open and close with a click.

'_Yes,'_ he thought, _'this is certainly going to be an interesting year.'_


End file.
